Cups Full of Wishes
by Chloe Masen
Summary: Lily O'Brien is a hopeful child. Will her special cups of hot chocolate and a new friendship with Dr. Edward Cullen make her greatest wish come true? Aaaaaw moments ahead.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**:** SM owns Twilight. The wishes are theirs. And mine.**

** A/N**:** I have my sappy moments. This is one of them.**

**Cups Full of Wishes**

"Aunt Angela, why isn't anyone buying my hot chocolate?"

The little girl's eyes are sad as she opens the still-empty drawer at the bottom of her spinning carousel jewelry box that she brought from home to use as her cash register. She had high hopes for her makeshift hot chocolate stand, set up to greet cold holiday shoppers as they entered the quaint little bookshop owned by her mother and her best friend Angela. High hopes that so far were on their way to being crushed. One hour had passed, and many shoppers had entered the beloved shop, but not a single sale had she made.

"Well, Lily, sweetheart, I think maybe it's because of how much. We talked about this. And now perhaps it's time to have a _sale_."

They did indeed talk about it, and the sweet, determined child refused to budge on the five dollars a cup price.

"No. No sale!" She crosses her small arms and sits up straighter in her chair, her chin raised proudly.

"I know you want to get mommy a special present, but I told you I would help you with that. If you just tell me what it is... "

"No. I told you it's a secret."

"I won't tell anyone."

"Yes you will. You'll tell mommy. Best friends tell each other everything."

"Well, surprises are different. I won't tell her about this. Cross my heart."

The little girl shakes her head full of long red curls, the tiny bells tied to the ends of the green velvet ribbon in her hair jingling with her movement.

"You are definitely your mother's child, Lily. Stubborn as can be."

Lily smiles brightly at this, all the way up to her big blue eyes - one of the many things she did not get from her mother - because being likened to her is the greatest compliment the little girl could receive. Isabella Swan-O'Brien is the sun in her young daughter's sky. A sky that has had more than its share of cloudy days for the both of them.

**...**

**CFoW**

**...**

"I shouldn't have left," the man says to the small, dark-haired figure sitting on his couch as he gazes out the window of his new home. Snow covers everything in sight and he feels trapped by it all. "And I shouldn't have bought this ridiculous monstrosity of a house. I don't know what I was thinking."

She watches as he runs his fingers mindlessly through his unruly bronze hair. "Well, I think you weren't, consciously, but it's a beautiful home, Edward. And yes, you should have. You needed to get away from there, make a new start, before you let it destroy you."

He considers the words of his younger sister, and knows they're born out of love and concern, which is precisely why he came here, but it still feels wrong to him. Everything went so wrong for this man who once had everything.

"This home is meant for a family, Alice. Not one man. I left my family behind... "

She jumps from the couch and to his side at the window, linking her arm with his. Her brother has lost so much, and their family pleaded with him to not lose himself, too. They all relocated to this tiny town together, in hopes that there was joy to be found for him here, or at least an escape from the pain-filled surroundings that were consuming him after the tragic accident that took his wife and daughter.

"You didn't leave them, Edward. They were taken from you. You only left the painful memories behind, nothing else. And buying this home, meant for a family, means that somewhere in your heart you have hope to fill it with one someday. It's what they would want for you. It's what we want for you. You're too loving of a man not to share that with someone. You make people's lives better, Edward. And don't worry... I love this house, and I 'll be here as often as you'll let me. I can make as much noise as ten people, and... "

"I know, believe me." He laughs at the pixie-like creature that has always had a tireless supply of energy. "So, what are your plans today? Or is babysitting me _it_?"

"I'm not babysitting you, I'm simply spending time with my big brother on his day off. And making sure that he doesn't forget about Christmas, which is just around the corner."

"Forget?" He gazes around the room that looks like a merry band of elves spent a month decorating it, and back to his sister, the merry band of elves herself. "I'm pretty sure you've guaranteed that that couldn't possibly happen."

She responds with a giggle and a curtsy, knowing that's exactly what she's done. But she knows her brother well enough to know her work isn't done. "And how many presents have you bought?"

"Uh... "

"I thought so."

"I've been busy... "

"Okay, and today you're not, which is why we're going shopping. Aren't you glad you have me?"

"I thank God every day for you."

He looks down adoringly at the sole reason he's managed to keep his head above water for the last couple of years, the truth of his declaration coursing through him. His family was there for him through every moment of pain he suffered, but his sister Alice, more than any of them, is what kept the misery from drowning him. She wouldn't give up on him. No matter how unbearable he was, she hardly left his side. Tears, angry fits of rage, and thousands upon thousands of unanswerable WHYs didn't send her out the door...

Edward Cullen would find joy again, and Alice would be there to see when he did.

**...**

**CFoW**

**...**

"What about this one, Bells? Do you think Lily would like it?" Charles Swan holds up the ceramic horse he's chosen as this year's addition to his granddaughter's collection. The light brown horse with dark mane sits in a resting position, and wears a vivid gem-colored saddle blanket.

"She'd love it, Dad, but are you also prepared to build her another shelf to put it on? There's not an inch of space left on any of them."

"Of course I am, haven't I built all of the others?"

"Yes, you have, because you're the best grandpa in the whole wide world, as Lily says."

He beams with pride at his daughter's use of Lily's often-spoken words, because his only grandchild is the apple of his eye. His only daughter is the apple of the other, and there's nothing in the world he wouldn't do to make them both happy in any way that he could.

The last few years have been sad ones for all of them, ever since the horrible day that Colin O'Brien was ripped senselessly from their lives, leaving Bella a young widow and Lily with no father. Charles Swan loved his son-in-law, an officer on the Forks Police Department, which he was the Chief of, and couldn't have been happier when his daughter fell in love with the responsible young man he'd have been proud to call a son. He couldn't have chosen a better human being to love and protect his little girl, and he knew Bella's life would be a joyful one.

Or, at least it should have been, but a routine traffic stop gone terribly wrong changed all of that. The two young passers through town gunned him down in the street as Charlie listened to the whole horrific thing on the still-open radio. He got to the scene in time, but Colin's final words would have to be relayed to Bella and Lily through him, because though every effort was made to save his life, the battle had been lost before his precious Isabella made it to the hospital. His final words that ripped her to shreds because she knew how deeply he meant them.

_Tell them I love them. And tell them if I'd only had a single day of life to live, spending it with them would have been my only wish._

They should have heard his beautiful words themselves. They should have heard them every day of their lives, with smiles on their faces and a long future ahead of them with the man who loved them so much. Charles Swan would have given his own life for that to be possible. He still would today if it could bring him back to them. He'd give anything in the world to see pure joy wrap itself around them and hold them close.

"Should we check in?" he asks his daughter once they've left the shop and are headed to the next.

"We just checked in twenty minutes ago. Angela will call me if she has any trouble with her."

"Trouble with _my_ granddaughter? An impossibility, our Lily is an angel. Your phone will never ring."

"Yes, an angel with a stubborn streak that would rival that of General Custer. Let's just hope she doesn't get it into her head that she'd like to fly to the moon today. She'll have Angela outside building her a space shuttle out of snow."

"Well, it still wouldn't top the helicopter I was ordered to build last winter."

"You said it yourself, Dad, _ordered_."

"What can I say, Bells, I'm a sucker for little blue-eyed angels with freckles."

"Didn't you once say that about little brown-eyed angels?"

He eyes the smattering of freckles across his daughter's nose and smiles. "I may have."

If he had just one wish, both of his angels would be loved again.

**...**

**CFoW**

**...**

"Pages and Dreams... what a charming little shop. Have you been here?"

"Yes, Edward, it's the one I told you about, oh, I don't know, a _hundred_ times or so."

"I may remember you saying something, but I never remembered to come and take a look. Good thing we're here now. Ladies first." He opens the door to the bookshop and follows Alice inside.

Edward Cullen is an avid reader and great lover of books, and the fact that he's lived in this small town for a little over three months and never set foot inside this treasure is proof of his home-to-work-and-back-again routine.

He's taken but a handful of steps before his eyes fall on a little red ringlet-haired girl seated at a wooden table. There is a sign on an easel beside her, decorated with a child's bold script and red and green glitter that reads:

**Cups Full of Wishes**

and beneath it:

**Hot Chocolate: 5 Dollar$ a cup**

"Hello there," he says to widening blue eyes as he approaches the table.

"Hello. Would you like to buy a cup of hot chocolate and make a wish?"

"Five dollars a cup?"

The wide blue eyes narrow as the little girl becomes wary of another complaint about her price. "Yes, _five_ dollars."

Edward smiles, hoping to soften her quickly changing demeanor. "I would like two cups, please. And two wishes."

"Five dollars each," she replies, enunciating _each_ to make sure there's no confusion.

"Yes. So, that's ten dollars for two, right?"

"Yes, sir." Blue eyes widen once again and she smiles for the first time as she puts the money into the little drawer and places two foam cups in front of her. She picks up the stainless steel carafe with two hands and the woman who has been watching from a few feet away rushes to her side to take it from her.

"Let me help you."

"I can do it myself," the child insists, glaring at her.

The woman raises her hands in defeat but watches nervously as the little girl begins to slowly tilt the carafe. One of the cups topples over as she bumps it the slightest bit. She puts down the carafe and rights the cup, glaring at the woman a second time when she reaches for it, and tries again. The same thing happens.

"Honey, please let me... "

"No. I said I can do it."

"Of course you can," Edward says, squatting down in front of the table so that green eyes can look straight into determined blue ones. "But would it be alright if I held the cups still while you pour?"

She considers this for a moment and decides it would be okay. "Yes, thank you. That would be quite helpful."

"But sir," the woman interjects in a panic, her eyes glued to his hands. "It really is hot... she could- " She stops speaking, the look on Edward's face silencing her, which is what he hoped for, and watches the child pour the hot liquid into the cups with obvious held breath.

"Thank you, it looks delicious." Edward picks up the expertly poured cups from the table and is met with a panicked "No!"

"Put them down, Edward, she isn't finished." It's the first time Alice has spoken since he first laid eyes on the little girl. She's been watching their exchange in rare silence beside him until now.

"Oh, well I'm sorry," he says, placing them back on the table and putting his hands behind his back in a silent gesture of_ I won't touch_.

The little girl emits a small giggle and opens a canister, then picks up a small pair of tongs. "You can't have hot chocolate without marshmallows."

"I love marshmallows!" Alice squeals excitedly.

The child's smile falls as Edward says that he doesn't need any. He instantly realizes his mistake, though, with a little help from a smack on the arm from his sister, and says he would love some.

"They're special marshmallows. They're the wishes." The child's eyes flit to her sign and Edward's follow, and then to her tiny hand as she reaches into the canister with the tongs. One by one she places several miniature star-shaped marshmallows into the cups and then looks up. "Stars are for wishing on."

Edward smiles at the little girl as she carefully holds a cup out to him. She smiles back as he hands it to Alice and then takes his own. They both close their eyes, making their wishes, and then take careful sips. Alice hums her delight and the little girl waits anxiously for a second approval.

"Definitely worth five dollars," he says, making her face light up as he hoped it would. "You're going to be rich by the end of the day."

The light falls away instantly. "No, everyone else thinks it's too much."

"I don't believe that," he replies, shaking his head and taking another sip.

"It's true. Look." She turns her jewelry box to face him and opens the drawer, revealing the lone ten dollars inside.

"Well, that just won't do." He eyes the decorative box, trying to determine her wish. "You can't buy a pony with ten dollars."

"A pony?" she asks, confusion on her face.

"There are ponies on your box. Maybe you want a real one for Christmas and you're trying to save up in case Santa can't fit one on his sleigh?"

"No, I didn't ask Santa for that. I have lots of ponies and horses. Not real ones, but that's okay. And my wish isn't for me. It's for my mom, and it's not a pony. But it might cost more than a pony... that's why I'm charging five dollars, except no one but you will pay that much."

Edward nods at the sweet child and looks up at the woman. "Quite the little girl you have here."

"That's not my mom," the girl declares, bringing his eyes back to her. "She's my aunt. Well, not really, but I call her that."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Forgive me for assuming."

"Don't be sorry. Thank you for buying my hot chocolate. I hope your wish comes true."

"Well, thank you. I hope yours does, too. For your mom. She's very lucky to have you."

The light returns to her face, brighter than ever. "That's what she says."

"I bet she does." He's smiling as he walks away, pulling his phone from his pocket as he does.

**...**

**CFoW**

**...**

"Aunt Angela, hurry! They're waiting!"

She rushes from the back with a freshly filled carafe and another package of star shaped marshmallows. "I'm moving as fast as I can, honey. Here you go."

The bookshop is filled with customers, buying books galore and more hot chocolate than they can keep up with. Reinforcements were called in, to bring more of everything, and everyone has been bustling about like busy elves in Santa's workshop.

"Thank you for being my assistant, Alice."

"You're very welcome, Lily. Selling cups full of wishes is fun!"

"So is drinking them," says the next customer, a now-familiar voice.

"Edward, why are you back in line?" Lily asks with narrowed eyes and hands on her hips.

"I'm thirsty. And I want to make another wish."

"Oh. Well, everyone should get to make as many wishes as they want." Alice pours the hot liquid - an agreed upon duty - and Lily adds the stars and holds the cup out to him. "I hope all of yours come true."

"Thank you, Lily." He tries to give her his five dollars and she shakes her head. His brows raise in confusion. "Did the price go up?"

"No. This wish is free. You already bought three cups, and one for Alice."

"Oh, no it's not!" Alice declares, taking the money from his outstretched hand. "He's paying, and besides, taking his money is fun!"

"But _I'm_ the boss and I don't want him to pay. I'm _giving_ him a wish."

Alice pouts childishly and holds the money back out to him. He takes it and lays it on the top of the jewelry box. "That's very sweet of you, Lily, but I really want to help make _your_ wish come true."

"You already are."

"How am I doing that?"

"I know what you did, Edward."

"Me? What did I do?"

"You called people and told them to come here and buy my hot chocolate and mommy's books."

"Hmm... You know about that?"

"Yes."

"Well, Alice is a tattletale."

Alice gasps, making Lily laugh, but she corrects him quickly. "Alice didn't tell me. I saw you talking on the phone, and then a bunch of nice people came, and you know all of them, even though you're trying to act like you don't. I'm observant. Grandpa says I see everything. He says I'd make a great detective."

"Well, I think he's right. But in my defense, I didn't tell them to buy anything. I just told them about the hot chocolate, and that they could make wishes if they came and got some. They all wanted to make wishes, so they came. And they chose to buy your mommy's books all by themselves, just like me."

"You have a big pile over there. I saw that, too. My mom would smile if she was here and saw it."

"I wish she was here then, because I like to see people smile, but maybe you can tell her about it and she'll smile for you."

"She smiles for me every day, but I am going to tell her. I'm going to tell her about the nice man with green eyes and messy hair that had a big stack of books and... "

"You think my hair is messy?" Edward asks with exaggerated shock, interrupting the child, as Alice laughs beside her.

"Yes. Very messy. But I like it. It's charming."

"Charming?"

"Yes. Grandpa says I'm charming. Mostly when I say things that make peoples' mouths open, but then they smile after. I think your hair is like that."

"Well, you are definitely charming, Lily. I am honored that you think my messy hair is worthy of sharing your title. Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"You've told me things your mommy says, and your grandpa... I'm curious what your daddy says about you. Can you tell me something?"

She doesn't hesitate for a single second, her father's words always with her. "He said he loves me. And he said if he had a single day of life to live, spending it with me would have been his only wish. And mommy, too. That's what he told grandpa to tell us."

The mix of pain and joy in the little girl's eyes is like a vice on Edward's heart, and he can't stop the tears that start to fill his own as he grips the understanding that this precious child lives her life without her father. His voice cracks as he speaks again. "That's very special, Lily. Thank you for sharing that with me. I'm sorry if I shouldn't have asked you that."

"It's okay. Don't be sorry. Daddy isn't here anymore, but he had more than one day with us, so I know his wish came true. And he will live in our hearts forever. Well... _mine_, because even though it hurts a lot, it's not broken."

"Lily, honey, what do you mean by that?" Angela, who's been standing behind her with tears in her own eyes for the last few minutes, asks now.

"Nothing," she answers, annoyed that she overheard. "Is it time to close now?"

She's surprised by the child's openness with this man who was a stranger to her until a few hours ago, and a little hurt that she suddenly feels like an intruder, but doesn't push the issue. "Well, if you don't want mommy to see your hot chocolate stand, then we should close it up, because she'll be here soon."

"Okay."

A woman about to leave the shop with an armload of wrapped books and Lily's hot chocolate warming her belly catches the child's attention as she says goodbye. "Good night, Alice. Good night, Dr. Cullen."

They bid her goodbye and Edward returns his gaze to wide blue eyes. "What's wrong, Lily?"

"You're a doctor?"

"Yes."

"You fix things that are broken."

"Well, I try to as hard as I can."

Lily runs to the register where Angela has just finished with another customer. "I need my money that you put away when my drawer got full."

"Why, honey? It's safe here right now. And we should put the rest away, too."

"No! I need it! Right now!"

"Lily... "

She stomps her feet, the beginnings of a tantrum Angela doesn't want to escalate. "Now!"

"Okay... but be careful. You don't want to lose any. It's a lot of money."

"It's for mommy, I'm not going to lose it!"

She hands her the envelope from under the register drawer and watches her run back to the table and empty the contents of her jewelry box into it. She makes her way quickly to the table herself as Lily hands the envelope to Edward.

"Do you want me to help you count it?" he asks her, crouching in front of the table.

"No. Well... I guess you have to. Then can you tell me if it's enough?"

"Sweetheart, I don't know what you want to get your mommy, but I'm sure it's enough. You worked very hard today giving people wishes."

"You're sure?"

He glances up at Angela who shrugs unknowing, and back to Lily. "Is it still a secret or can you tell me? Then I can tell you for sure if it's enough."

She looks up at Angela untrustingly and she covers her ears. It's enough to satisfy her, but she speaks quietly just in case. "My mommy needs a new heart. That's what I want to get her. And you're a doctor, and I want you to give it to her. You can make my wish come true."

It's the last thing Edward expected to hear from the small mouth. The knowledge that this little girl has already lost her father, and her mother is ill...

He fights to maintain his composure as he tries to get a clearer understanding. "Your mommy is very sick?"

"Not sick like a cold."

"No, she's much more sick than a cold, isn't she?"

"Ummm... kind of. I don't know. But you're a doctor and you'll know. You can fix her if it's enough money. Is it enough?"

Angela, who's heard every word through her loosely covered ears, tries to let a put-on-the-spot Dr. Cullen off of the child's hook for a moment. "Lily, can I uncover my ears now?" She asks the question loudly, trying to ensure that she believes she couldn't hear anything.

Lily crosses her arms angrily at the interruption, because she hasn't gotten the answer she hopes for yet.

Angela uses the little girl's silence as an opportunity to continue, before she decides to erupt into a tantrum. "I'll cover them again in a minute if you want, but right now I think you should go and find a hiding place for your sign before mommy comes. Maybe Alice could help you find a good place."

"I would love to help. I'm good at hiding things," Alice says, looking at Lily for approval.

She frowns, but really doesn't want her mother to see it, so she nods and takes her sign from the easel. She starts to walk away with Alice but turns back to Edward. "You can count it while we're gone. Then you can tell me if it's not enough."

It escapes no one that her words are less hopeful than before, Edward's pained silence perhaps crushing it a bit.

"Can you tell me about her mother's condition?" he asks Angela as soon as Lily is out of earshot. "Or give me her name so I could... "

"No, that's just it... her mother isn't sick."

"She's not? But she said... "

"No, not at all. I don't know why she told you that. Lily is a very honest child, I don't understand what this is about. She's told you more than she's told me... She's very drawn to you, enough to tell you her secret, but what she told you doesn't make any sense."

"Actually, it makes perfect sense," he says quietly as they near, returning quickly from their mission.

"Did you count it? Did we sell enough wishes?"

"No, I didn't, Lily, because I've been busy thinking about your special secret. Can I ask you another question?"

"Is it a secret question?" Her eyes dart to Angela, who covers her ears again and moves a few feet away, before removing her hands and busying herself with a display. Alice follows suit, and browses books on a nearby shelf.

Edward smiles at her obvious satisfaction with being given privacy. "I wanted to ask you about your wish. Would that be alright?"

"Okay, but I already told you, I want to get mommy a new heart."

"What does mommy tell you about her heart?"

"That she loves me with all of it."

"Well, of course she does. Does she tell you anything else? Like that she needs a new one?"

"No, she didn't tell me that."

"But you're very observant, so maybe she didn't have to. You see everything... "

"Sometimes I hear things, too."

"Did you hear mommy talk about her heart?"

"I wasn't trying to listen. I was sleeping and I woke up while mommy was talking to Grandpa."

"And you heard something about her heart."

"Yes. Grandpa told mommy to open it. But she said she couldn't because it was broken. It made me sad. I've been wishing on stars every night, but nothing happened, except that there was snow every morning when I woke up. I wished for that too, and when it came I wished even more on the snowflakes. I made wishes on a wish that came true. And then I saw on tv that a man got a new heart at a hospital. That's why I was selling wishes, because mommy always pays when we go to the doctor, so I knew I needed money to get her a new heart. And I thought people might buy my hot chocolate if they got to make a wish. They could make wishes on my wish that they could make come true. But nobody would buy it. And then you came and bought some, and all of those other people you told about the wishes. And you're a doctor. And I think that when I wished on all the stars and snowflakes, maybe my wish _did_ come true. They sent _you_."

"Lily, if I could... "

"Grandpa!"

Edward watches the hopeful child run excitedly to the man that just came through door of the bookshop. He sweeps her into his arms and looks at her like she's the brightest star in the sky. The bells on the door chime again and his eyes are pulled to it. Pulled, and hypnotized, inexplicably, by the pale, dark haired woman that stands just inside. His eyes don't leave her, can't, and he stands immobile as she kisses Lily's smiling face.

Alice, who was watching her brother from a few feet away, now comes to stand at his side, linking her arm with his with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. Lily isn't the only one who sees.

Lily, who's eyes meet hers, and then Edward's as her bell of a voice rings into the air. "Mommy, Grandpa, come and meet my new friends!"

Charlie sets her on her feet and she takes them each by the hand and leads them to where they stand. She gestures between them and makes her introductions. "This is Alice and Edward. They're brother and sister. Alice is the best assistant in the whole world. And Edward is a doctor. That part's important. He fixes people." She beams as she says this and continues, "And this is my mom Bella and my grandpa Charlie. Oh! And Mommy, Edward bought a whole giant stack of your books! They're over there!"

Bella Swan-O'Brien is breathless as she pulls her entranced brown eyes from similarly afflicted green ones to follow her daughter's pointed finger. She does indeed smile at the pile of wrapped books behind the counter, and then at her daughter before her gaze is pulled back to the man before her.

The man who smiles at her daughter with wondrous adoration before his eyes move back to hers. Green eyes to brown. Pain to pain. Renewed hope to renewed hope. Brought together by a child's.

An observant child that now looks between her mother and her new friend and doesn't miss a thing. And who has another secret she wants to share.

She looks up at her grandfather, who she thinks sees what she sees, but she wants to tell him anyway. She tugs on his arm and holds hers in the air for him to pick her up. He does and she whispers in his ear, though not so quiet that no one else can hear...

"Edward is going to fix Mommy's broken heart."

Thanks to her cups full of wishes, she knows her greatest wish is going to come true. She can already see it in her mother's eyes.

**...**

**So... I initially intended for this to be a O/S, but there may be an update or two, so I'll leave it open. And the M rating - that I know doesn't seem to apply - is just in case one of them gets a little saucy. No promises either way.**

**And if I don't see you all again before... Merry Christmas! I hope all of your wishes come true! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: **Twilight belongs to SM. Wishes are mine. And theirs.**

**A/N**: **Thank you for the love for this little story. It warms my heart.**

**...**

**Chapter Two**

"He's here!" Lily shouts as the sound of the doorbell chimes through the house.

"I'm coming, sweetheart," her mother calls from the bathroom, where she's been trying to get her hair to cooperate with trembling fingers caused by the butterflies in her stomach.

"I don't want to wait! Can I open it?" she calls back, running down the stairs to the front door.

"Look through the window and make sure it's Edward first!" Bella calls again to her daughter, who she hasn't heard this excited for a very long time. Before eight days ago, anyway.

"Mom, he rang the bell four times! You know that's our code! And I _can _see him!"

"Then yes, you can open the door," she says, making her way nervously down the steps.

It's been over a week since Bella Swan-O'Brien first looked into the deep sea of green of Edward Cullen's eyes at the bookshop and felt the ground shift beneath her feet. Over a week since her heart began to beat again, for anything but her precious little girl. Over a week since the butterflies arrived, as if by invitation, at the mere sound of her name on his lips._ It's a pleasure to meet you, Bella..._

Over a week since she first saw that crooked smile that greets her now as she enters the living room. "Hi."

His crooked smile that gets wider as their eyes meet and the rest of the world disappears. "Hi."

The rest of the world, that is, _except _for one vibrant child whose observation now rings into the air. "Edward, you think Mommy is beautiful."

"Yes, I do," he admits, turning his smile to bright blue eyes. "You really do see everything."

"Yes, I do," she giggles. "You make Mommy's face pink. She thinks you're beautiful too."

**...**

**CFoW**

**...**

"Come to turn yourself in?" Chief Swan asks his granddaughter as Bella, Lilly, and a visibly smitten Dr. Edward Cullen walk into his office hand in hand in hand.

"Only guilty people turn themselves in, Grandpa. I'm innocent. Why would I turn myself in?"

"For selling cups full of wishes without a permit," he says in his _Police Chief_, not Grandpa, voice.

Her eyes go wide for a second and then flash to her mother, who only smiles at her.

"Aunt Angela has a big mouth," the child declares with a scowl, and then turns her attention to Edward. "What's a permit?"

"Well, it's a piece of paper that says you can sell cups full of wishes in the town. I think. Do you have that?"

She thinks about this for a moment, wanting to say yes, but wanting her _yes _to be the truth. She knows she can't and crosses her arms while she thinks. She decides she doesn't want to answer before she has more information.

She looks back to her grandfather, "Do I _have _to have one?"

"Yep," he answers, trying to keep the smile threatening to erupt on his face at bay.

"What if I don't?" she asks as matter-of-factly as she can.

He allows a frown to accompany his answer this time. "I'll have to lock you up."

Her eyes go wide a second time and she looks to her mother again and finds that the expression she wears mirrors her own. This isn't good.

Edward asks the next question, "What happens to a person who _bought _cups full of wishes from a girl without a permit?"

"I'd have to lock _them _up, too," he answers firmly.

Lily's wide eyes are now joined on her face by an equally wide open mouth. This _really _isn't good.

But if a piece of paper is all she needs...

"I'll be right back!" she exclaims as she runs hurriedly from the office.

"You wouldn't be trying to escape, would you?" Chief Swan calls after her.

She turns around, her chin held high. "No. I just want to tell Mrs. Cope Merry Christmas, because she wasn't at her desk when we came. Christmas is tomorrow, you know."

He nods his head at the slight pout that now forms on her mouth, thinking it's time to stop teasing her, but knowing his granddaughter well enough to know that she'll find a way out of her predicament.

"Go ahead," he tells her with a guilty heart.

He peeks through the window of his office, joined by his daughter and Dr. Cullen, and they all smile as they watch her run to Mrs. Cope's desk and wish her a purposefully boisterous Merry Christmas - so as not to lie, which she never does and won't start doing now - before acquiring a piece of paper and a pen from her.

She crosses the room to a small table in the waiting area, and removes her mittens, but stares perplexed at the blank paper she lays in front of her. She looks up at Mrs. Cope and then back to her paper in frustration. She doesn't want to ask for _her _help. The three pairs of watchful eyes dart away from the window as she turns around and a few seconds later she's in the doorway of the office.

"Edward?"

He smiles at her with raised brows and she beckons him with a tiny finger. He walks to where she stands and crouches down in front of her.

She leans close to whisper in his ear, "How do you spell permit?"

He whispers back to her, cupping his hands around her ear, "P e r m i t."

She runs away quickly, before she can forget, and immediately begins writing on her paper. After a few moments, she returns to her grandfather's office and extends the paper to him with hopeful eyes.

"What's this?" he asks, taking it from her little hand.

"It's a permit," she replies confidently.

He clears his throat and reads the paper aloud, beginning with the large letters across the top...

**PERMIT**

**Lily O'Brien can sell cups full of wishes in Forks, where her grandpa Charlie who loves her is the BOSS. And Doctor Edward Cullen can buy as many cups full of wishes as he wants. This permit is for him too. **

He beams as he looks down at the light of his life, her fingers crossed at her sides, and then walks to his desk. "Well, everything seems to be in order here. This is exactly what I needed. No one's getting locked up today." He picks up a pen and scrawls his signature across the bottom of the permit and tacks it on the wall beside him, next to a drawing of a horse. "Now that we've cleared up all of the official business, who's ready for lunch?"

"Me!" they all yell at once, and Lily takes Edward's hand and leads the way out to freedom.

No way she was letting _him _get locked up.

**...**

**CFoW**

**...**

"Are you going to be here when Santa comes?" Lily asks Edward as she places the plate of cookies and glass of milk on the coffee table, with a note that says **for Santa**.

He eyes the green and red sugar-covered stars that he helped make and smiles. "No, I'll be sleeping in my bed when Santa comes, just like you."

"Have you ever seen Santa?"

"No, never. Well, except for at the mall. I always fall asleep before he comes. Have you ever seen him?"

"No. I try to stay awake but I always fall asleep, too. Santa waits for us to fall asleep. And the Santa at the mall isn't real. He's just a man in a suit. I never tell that Santa what I want. I write a letter to the real Santa at the North Pole and tell _him_, and that I've been a good girl, and then Mommy takes me to the post office to mail it. He's too busy to write back, but he always brings me what I asked for, so I know he gets my letters. And believes that I've been good."

"Of course he believes. I know I do, and I've only just met you."

"You met me eight days ago, Edward. That's a long time. You _know _I'm good. Do you think Santa will make a wish?"

He laughs at her correction and devious little angel smile, thinking how right she is about eight days. It _does _feel like a long time. Before he can get lost in thoughts of why that is, he gives her the answer she's waiting for. "Yes I do, and I'm sure Santa knows that stars are for wishing on. And you're leaving him a whole plate full of wishes, so I think he'll make many. And eat lots of cookies."

"Do reindeers want to make wishes? There's no stars for them, only carrots."

"They have the whole sky full of stars to wish on. I think they make their wishes when they fly. And I think they wish for carrots."

"You do?"

"Absolutely."

She smiles proudly at the thought of making reindeer wishes come true and gives Edward a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Of course you will. You invited me for Christmas breakfast, and I wouldn't miss that for anything."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow morning! Good night! And thank you for helping us make cookies for Santa. And don't forget, it's _your _job to put the carrots outside for the reindeer!"

"I promise I won't forget. And you're very welcome. I liked helping. Good night, Lily. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Sweet dreams."

"Sweet dreams, Edward!" she calls as she takes her mother's hand and heads off to bed.

Tears prick Edward's eyes as he watches them disappear up the stairs. Tears for the joy their beautiful faces have brought to his - until eight days ago - sad and lonely life.

Tears for why it was sad. For the Christmas Eves he will never again spend with his wife and daughter, and tears for the man who can't be here to spend them with his. Tears for being here in his place. His home that he was welcomed into by the angels he was forced to leave alone. Tears that roll down his cheeks as he looks at the plate full of wishes. A child's wishes. A hopeful, happy child that made one that he knows has changed his life.

Her mother's heart wasn't the only one that was broken. And it's not the only one her wish will make new.

He knew it the moment he saw her. The little girl... the little red-haired angel with determined blue eyes that he couldn't take his off of. He knew. He didn't know how, but somewhere inside he knew...

And when he looked into the deep, soulful brown eyes of her mother, he knew with a little more clarity. The eyes that instantly stole his soul...

The eyes that meet his tear-filled ones now as she comes back down the stairs, making his heart flip flop in his chest. His heart that he thought had died with his family. His heart that eight days ago told him he was wrong. His heart...

That _knows_.

She stops when she sees him wipe away the tears from his cheeks. "If it's too hard for you... " Stops. Her words. Her steps. Her heart. Her hope... "I can tell her... something. I-"

"No... " The word gets stuck in his throat and he shakes his head.

"I don't want to cause you pain, Edward. For her to." Her own tears fall and she bites her trembling lip, suddenly overcome with emotions.

He holds out his hand to her, unable to get his legs to move to go to her. She takes the last few steps and places her hand in his, letting him pull her down beside him on the couch. He reaches up to brush the tears from her beautiful face. "Neither of you could ever cause me pain, unless you wanted me to go. I think her wishes are clear, but if it's too hard for _you_, I could tell her... something. I-"

"No... " She shakes her head emphatically. "We don't want you to go. _Neither _of us."

"I'm glad you don't."

"I'm glad you're glad."

"It would be so much harder if I wasn't here, Bella."

"For me too, if you weren't here. Last year was... "

"Hopeless," he finishes her sentence, knowing well what she would have said. "And the one before... "

"For me too. But this year... "

"Your little angel upstairs made a wish."

Her eyes flit to the empty stairway. "She adores you, Edward."

"I adore her too."

"I'm glad you do," she whispers softly, meeting his gaze once again, and seeing the truth in it.

"I'm glad you're glad."

"I'm glad you're _here_."

Her generous words have a tremendous effect on him. Give him a sense of belonging, in this place where hope lives, where wishes are made.

Green eyes look into brown, but deeper. Beyond their glimmering surfaces...

Healing heart into healing heart. His thumps in his chest like a nervous young boy. He doesn't know about the butterflies in her stomach. But he hopes they're there.

A hint of pink touches her pale cheeks and he _knows _they are. There. Dancing. To the beat of his no longer silent heart.

Her lip begins to tremble. He wants to feel it. He's wanted to feel those lips for eight long days.

Eight days that he's resisted. Waited.

Eight days that he's been careful. Patient.

Eight days that felt like an eternity...

_Eight _eternities.

Spent wanting to feel. Her. But not wanting to push her, pressure her, rush her. But now...

He thinks...

Maybe...

"Bella... "

"Yes."

"Can I-"

"It wasn't a question, Edward."

"I'm glad it wasn't."

"I'm glad you're glad."

"Yes?" he asks, just to be sure.

"Kiss me, Edward."

A shy smile touches his lips. He's met with the same, but wrapped in a delicate pink package. Waiting to be opened.

He leans closer. Slowly. Mere inches.

She does the same. Inches. Her lips parted slightly. For him. Waiting.

He moves again, mere inches again, maybe less. Closer, but not quite. Still their lips don't meet.

Nervous and anxious mix. Calm and chaos. Desperation and peace.

Closer...

Seconds pass.

Closer...

Time dissolves.

Closer...

Space.

Gone.

Replaced with...

Touch. Soft lips to soft lips. Warm breath to warm breath. Need to need.

His. Hers. Theirs.

He feels no guilt. No betrayal of the past. He'd wondered if he would...

But no. He only feels...

Her hands in his hair. Soft. Gentle. _Free_.

Her sweet mouth a wish come true.

She's glad he's here.

And she's not the only one.

He couldn't be happier in this moment, but still there's someone else...

A shower of giggles rains down upon them from above. A beautiful, joyful song that they now join in.

He leans his head against hers. "Your little angel isn't upstairs anymore."

"Well, not in her bed... " she laughs.

They both look up at their adorable spy. The smile on her face says it all. Everything they feel, summed up in the simplicity of an innocent child's happiness. There's no guilt in that little face. Or the tiny feet that come barreling down the stairs towards them.

She climbs between them with another fit of giggles. "Did you forget how observant I am?"

"Yes," Bella says, tickling her sides, "I think I did. And sneaky."

"I am not!" she says between squeals. "You forgot to turn on my night light. I was coming to tell you." She looks to Edward, to explain the rules he doesn't know about. She doesn't want him to think she was being bad. "I'm not allowed to plug things in. And we never go to sleep without my night light. The horses are afraid of the dark."

He gives her a knowing smile, and Bella gasps at her mistake. "Oh! I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I'll go turn it on right now... "

"It's okay, Mommy. You were distracted."

"Distracted, huh? Where do you get these words?"

"I got that one from Aunt Angela. It means you're thinking about something else. And you were distracted thinking about coming back downstairs so Edward could kiss you."

Bella's eyes go wide and her mouth drops open. Lily pokes at her cheeks. "See, Edward? Pink. She was never that color before I made my wish and you came."

"I do see." He chuckles as Bella closes her eyes in embarrassment. "And I think your mommy is beautiful when she's pink."

"Me too. But she's always beautiful."

"Yes, she _is_."

"And so are _you_," Bella says to her _sees everything _daughter. "And up past your bedtime. Let's go get that night light turned on and you tucked back in."

"Okay. Is Edward going to kiss you again?"

Edward chuckles again as the blush returns instantly to her cheeks, brighter than ever. "I might. If that's okay?"

"It is. With me _and _Mommy. And I promise I won't get back out of bed until after Santa comes. So you can have privacy."

"Say goodnight, Lily," Bella says with an exasperated laugh.

"Actually... " Edward interjects, "Would it be alright if she opened one present before she goes back to bed?"

Lily's eyes light up and she looks to her mother, "Can I?"

Bella looks to Edward, who gives her a _trust me_ smile, and relents. "Ummm... well, I guess that would be okay."

Lily runs to the tree and looks at the many gifts with her name on them. "Any one?"

"No," Edward replies. "The one from me with the big green bow."

She knows exactly the one he means, since she's looked at it many times since he arrived with his arms full of presents just a few hours ago. She grabs it and comes back to sit between them, anticipation gleaming in her bright blue eyes.

"I like the bow," she says sweetly. "It's like the ribbon Mommy puts in my hair sometimes."

"I know. You were wearing it in your hair the day I met you. That's why I told Alice to put a _green _bow on it."

"Alice wrapped my present?"

"Yes, she wrapped all of them. She wanted them to be pretty for you. I tried, but she said mine were messier than my hair."

She eyes the tousled bronze locks and giggles. "Mommy made it messier when you kissed her."

He gazes at a _very pink _Bella and back to Lily with a wink. "You are definitely observant. And I think you should open that before Mommy's face turns as red as Santa's suit."

She pokes her mother's cheeks a second time, with yet another giggle, and then carefully unties the big green bow before tearing off the wrapping. She studies the image on the box with fascination and looks up excitedly. "It makes stars?"

"It does. You'll have your very own starry sky to make wishes on. I don't know if you have a special night light, but I thought maybe we could plug this in and-"

"Yes! Come on!" She jumps up, holding the box out to Edward. "I'll show you where my room is!"

Bella clears her throat and raises her brows at her daughter. "That's a wonderful present, and I know you're excited, but are you forgetting something?"

Lily purses her lips in thought. After a few seconds, she understands. "I'm sorry. I did forget. Thank you, Edward."

"You're very welcome. And it's okay, I'm happy that you're excited."

"Now can we go, Mom?"

"Yes, now we can go. I'm excited to see your stars, too, if Edward will show us how it works."

"I would love to. If you lovely ladies would just lead the way, we'll have stars in no time."

Lily giggles at _lovely _and takes Edward's hand, the box held in his other, and leads him up the stairs to her room, while Bella follows behind, a smile on her face and joy in her heart that her daughter is so adored by this kind and generous man.

"Wow," Edward gasps as they enter the room and Bella turns on the light.

The little girl's bedroom is painted a soft yellow, with curtains and fluffy bedspread of the same delicate hue. Her sleigh bed and dressers are a deep mahogany, with matching shelves hung along the walls that hold every kind of horse imaginable. There is also a large bookcase full of children's books and beloved classics, and a few horses, that takes up nearly one whole wall. In one corner of the room, where you might expect to find a toy box or dollhouse, is a miniature version of a horse stable, complete with two stuffed horses as big as she is, and is large enough for the child to play in. And the pillow and blanket and open book left on the floor within is proof that she does.

"Do you like my room?" Lily asks with hopeful eyes.

"Absolutely. It's the best room in the whole world. I've never seen so many pretty horses. Or books, except in your mommy's shop."

"There's big stores that have more books than Mommy's shop, but Mommy's shop is special. It has dreams in it. And wishes."

"It _is _very special, and so is your room. And _you_."

"And Mommy. And you."

Three pairs of eyes do a dance, green and blue and brown, taking in the _special _around them with smiles on their faces. Lily watches with held breath as Edward opens the box and pulls out the magical star-maker. She smiles as he sets it on her bed and pulls the directions from the box and begins to read them.

"Grandpa never reads the directions first."

"He doesn't? Well, maybe your grandpa is much smarter than me. I always read the directions."

"You're a doctor. Doctors are the smartest because they know how to fix people and that's hard because people don't come with directions."

"You're right, they don't. You have to pay close attention and listen very carefully and see everything."

"Do you think I could be a doctor? I see everything."

"Absolutely. I think you would be a wonderful doctor."

"I already have a kit!" She runs across the room and pulls a brown leather bag from a low shelf of her bookcase and brings it back and lays it on the bed. She opens it and pushes it towards Edward for inspection.

He sets down the directions and examines its contents, most of which are real, with obvious approval. "That's quite a kit you have there, Dr. O'Brien. And quite a secret you've kept. I had no idea you were a doctor."

"I'm not a real one like you. I just pretend. But maybe I will be when I'm older. But not for people."

"Not for people?" he asks, "Well, what kind of doctor might you be?"

"Guess."

He pretends to think for a moment and shrugs. "I don't know. I'm not very good at guessing."

"You have to pay close attention and _see _everything. Then guess."

He looks back at her kit, as if the answer lies there. She clears her throat purposefully, bringing his eyes back to her, and shakes her head. Knowing she has his attention, she moves her eyes slowly around the room and then back to him expectantly.

"Oh... I think I know now. A _horse _doctor?"

"Yes. Very good. Can we turn on my stars now, or did I distract you too much while you were reading the directions?"

"Not at all. I finished the directions. Just tell me where to put it and we'll be all set."

"Are the stars going to be up there?" she asks, pointing to the ceiling.

"Yes."

"Can we put it here, Mommy?" she asks, pointing now to her bedside table, where she has a photograph of her father holding a much younger her in his lap, reading a book to her. A book that clearly lost their attention when the person holding the camera caught their love-filled upward gazes. "I want Daddy to see the stars too."

Bella looks from Lily's face to Edward's, his eyes on the photograph, and speaks quietly. "I think so. There's an outlet just behind there... "

He gives them both a smile, trying to conceal the sadness he feels, and picks up the magical machine from the bed. He sets it carefully behind the photograph and crouches down to plug it in, as Bella quickly puts Lily's doctor kit back in its place and Lily climbs under the covers. He waits for her to tuck her in, his hand on the switch that will light up her private sky.

"Ready?"

Bella rushes to turn off the light and then back to the bed. "Ready!" mother and daughter exclaim together.

Lily stares in awe as Edward flips the switch and her ceiling is transformed into a twinkling star-lit universe. The look on her sweet face is like a thousand wishes come true. The look on Bella's as she gazes at her daughter with more love than he thinks he's ever seen is like a thousand more.

His eyes flit again to the photograph and his heart clenches in his chest for all of them, himself included. This beautiful family was struck by life-altering tragedy, much like his own, but they didn't let it consume them. They kept living, kept loving, and went on. And as he looks away from the past and into this gift of the present, he knows that that tragedy isn't here in this room now. It isn't on their faces or in their eyes. It isn't in their smiles.

It isn't in the tiny hand that reaches up to grasp his.

It isn't in the quiet voice of the woman whose soft lips he felt against his own a short eternity of moments ago. "Thank you, Edward. Thank you so much for this."

And it isn't in his as he answers her, giving the tiny hand a gentle squeeze. "You're very welcome. Little angels that make beautiful wishes should always have endless stars to wish on."

"You gave them to her."

"It's nothing compared to what she gave to me."


	3. Chapter 3

**SM owns Twilight. Cups Full of Wishes are mine. And theirs.**

**A/N: I know you've all waited a long time for this, so I'll let you get to it.**

**Chapter Three**

Edward turns from the window as the sound of Bella's footsteps reach the bottom of the stairs.

He left her only moments ago, but still his eyes light up at the sight of her.

Her gaze matches his, and she smiles. "She really loves that... thank you for doing that for her."

"I'm glad she does," He smiles in return, thinking of Lily's fascinated upward gaze as he wished her sweet dreams and left her room. "Thank _you _for a wonderful Christmas Eve."

Bella's face falls at the realization that he may be saying good night. "Ummm... you're welcome."

Edward's brows crease at the sudden change in her expression. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No... " She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and shakes her head, her eyes flitting to the window behind him and the snow that has started to fall.

His words leave him with a sigh, "Bella... I haven't done this for... "

"I haven't either," she says softly.

"So, I don't really know... "

"You don't have to leave. I mean... unless you-"

"I don't want to."

"I'm glad you don't."

"I'm glad you're glad."

She nods, another smile touching her lips, while she tries to keep the butterflies from taking over every other part of her. "But... "

"I know it's different for you."

"I have to be careful. For Lily... "

"Of course. She's the most important thing."

"She is. But... I still... "

"Don't want me to leave."

"No, I don't. Not... "

"I won't, Bella."

"I want to be honest with you, Edward... "

"I hope so."

"And then let you decide if you still want to be here."

"Nothing you could say could-"

"Maybe it could."

"It won't, Bella."

"But-"

"But let's see. Let me prove it to you."

Her eyes are hopeful, but still unsure. "She's already very attached to you."

"I'm very attached to her, too."

"But not just her... "

"No, not just her."

"I meant-"

"I know what you meant, Bella. But it works both ways."

"I never expected... I didn't think... "

"Neither did I."

She closes the small space between them, standing beside him in front of the window, and gazes out at the dancing white flakes. "I feel like we had this puzzle... this beautiful, perfect puzzle...

"But we lost a piece... and without it... it was just... "

He inches closer, but watches her face instead of the Christmas gift from the sky that she looks at. "I understand."

"I'm not sure you do, Edward... "

He reaches out slowly, cupping her chin gently in his hand and turning her face to his. "Tell me about the piece, Bella. I want to hear it."

"You might not."

"I promise you I _do_. Tell me. Please."

She inhales a breath and lets it out with a nod of her head. "It's just... the empty space... it... it isn't there anymore. I know the piece that we lost is gone, but I can't find it now... the space it left... "

He's bursting with joy at her words, and where he thinks they're going, but he can see that they're not easy for her, and doesn't interrupt.

Her voice gets quieter as she continues, "Something has filled it in... another piece fit in its place. And I... I think the piece is _you_." She closes her eyes and begins to shake her head, "But-"

He gently stills her, and shakes his own. "No more buts."

"It's only been eight days, Edward. How could I think such a thing? It's... I shouldn't... "

"You're not alone, Bella. Not with your thoughts... and you're not the only one who had a puzzle. I had one, too, and it was beautiful, and perfect, just like yours. And then one day it wasn't anymore. There was this huge, gaping hole right in the center of it. Two pieces... lost. That I knew I'd never get back. They wouldn't be found. They were just gone...

"But that gaping hole isn't there anymore, Bella. Something else fit inside of it. Two pieces... that I _know_..." He strokes his thumb tenderly across her cheek. "...are right here. And up there... asleep under the stars."

"You _know_?"

"Yes. I _know_."

She opens her mouth, but no words come out. Edward's forehead creases with worry that he may have said too much. "Does that frighten you?"

"No... it... I _know_, too."

"I'm glad you do."

"I'm glad you're glad. But still... eight days-"

"Seemed like an eternity while I was waiting to kiss you."

"It _was _an eternity," she whispers as a slight blush colors her cheeks. "I was beginning to think you never would."

His thumb moves slowly over her flushed cheek and down to brush across her lips. "Would it be alright if-"

"Yes," she whispers in anticipation, not waiting for him to finish his question..

Anticipation that he sees in her eyes, hears in that one word, feels in the air. And that courses through him as he cradles her face in his hands.

He doesn't hesitate this time. He's not nervous. And he doesn't want to wait another second to feel her mouth against his again. Her sweet mouth that opens in welcome as his tongue teases her bottom lip.

Her mouth... that fits so perfectly with his, moves so naturally, tastes so much like home... that every second he feels its warmth heals yet another moment of the pain he's endured for so long.

The mouth of a woman who has endured the same pain, cried the same tears, suffered the same loss.

The woman that now wraps her arms around his waist so tight, like she never wants to let him go...

Who just moments ago told him he was the missing piece, even though she thought the words might be too much... be more than he wanted to hear... make him want to go...

She told him with this mouth... that he lets himself melt into.

This woman... whose arms he lets hold him, because she wants him to stay.

This kiss... that was worth waiting an eternity for.

Eight eternities.

Except this time he didn't have to.

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

"Breakfast is ready!" Lily calls out the front door to Edward and her grandfather, who have been busy shovelling last night's heavy snowfall.

"Perfect timing!" Charlie calls back to his granddaughter, kicking the snow from his boots. "Because we're done and we're hungry!"

He growls like a bear and Lily runs squealing away from the door and back to the kitchen, where Bella is putting the last of the Christmas breakfast feast on the table.

"No bears in the kitchen, Dad," she scolds, as a giggling Lily runs to hide behind her.

"Yeah! No bears, Grandpa! The horses will be scared!"

His mouth forms an apologetic _"Oh" _as he eyes the spinning, musical carousel she points to in the center of the table.

The carousel was one of many gifts from Edward, who remembered her jewelry box from the day at the bookshop, and who smiles at her now, honored by the special place of prestige it was given at their breakfast.

"I like your centerpiece," he says with a wink. "And everything looks so good. Lily, did you make all of this food?"

"No, I'm not allowed to touch the stove. But I helped Mommy mix the pancake batter and scramble all of the eggs. I like to use the whisk. It's fun."

"Well, the whisking is a very important job. I can't wait to taste your scrambled eggs."

"What about the pancakes? Don't you want to try those? They're special ones."

"I see that. I've never had star pancakes before. I can't wait to taste those, either. And make more wishes."

"You don't have to wait, it's time to eat. You just have to sit down."

"Yes, ma'am. Where would you like me to sit?"

She pulls a chair away from the table. "Right here by me. That way Grandpa can't steal my bacon." Her eyes narrow as she asks "You don't steal bacon too, do you?"

"No, definitely not. Your bacon will be safe next to me, I promise."

She smiles as Edward pulls out her chair, waiting for her to sit, and slides it back in before he sits beside her where instructed. Charlie rushes quickly to the chair on the other side of her with a snicker.

"Over there, Grandpa," she says in a stern voice, as she points to the chair across from her.

"She's on to you, Dad." Bella laughs as he takes his seat with a pout.

He eyes his granddaughter, and then the man beside her, and his playful pout turns into a smile. "She's on to _something_."

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

"We may have to eat Christmas dinner outside with the snow creatures," Rosalie laughs, entering the kitchen. "Because no one is coming in anytime soon, if Lily has anything to say about it, which she does."

"Uh oh," Bella looks up from her chopping, "Is she being bossy?"

"Bossy?" Rosalie's laugh is now a deep chuckle. "Your adorable little dictator is in full command. I've never seen grown men cower like that."

"Sounds like my cue." Bella wipes her hands and unties her apron, looking sorrowfully at Esme, because she's about to lose her only helper. "I should have known my dad wouldn't be able to keep her under control."

"Your dad knows his place, and it's wrapped around her little finger like it should be," Esme smiles, "And no, please leave them. It's adorable, and it's about time someone showed those boys who's boss."

"And they're all perfectly happy taking orders," Rosalie adds, "And I'm enjoying watching them, but _I've _been ordered to tell you that they are in need of cups full of wishes, and since I missed them the first time, I'd really love to get to make a wish."

"Well, then cups full of wishes it is... _if _Edward has-"

Esme opens a cupboard and pulls out a bag of marshmallow stars, smiling at the woman that has brought the light back into her son's eyes.

"Edward has more than I could have dreamed for, Bella. Given to him by you and that little angel outside who has stolen all of our hearts. And I will make sure that there are always wishes in this house for her."

**…**

Bella's mouth drops open as she steps out into the winter wonderland that is Edward Cullen's back yard with the tray of ordered wishes in her hands and his mother by her side.

They'd been out there for quite a while, but the sight before her is nothing short of extraordinary for any length of time they could have spent.

But, extraordinary or not, the sight of her daughter with her hands on her hips and the fearful, helpless expressions assembled before her distracts her from the masterpiece for a moment.

"Looks like I'm just in time. Lily? I see you've been given another wonderful gift, are we forgetting our manners?"

"No. I'll say thank you when it's done. It's not done."

Bella looks again to the extraordinary structure - a carousel of horses made entirely of snow - and then to Edward, as he takes the last two mugs from the tray.

"Do I want to know?" she asks, as he hands her hers.

He smiles and takes a sip of the steaming chocolate before answering with a shrug, "She wants it to move, that's all."

"Of course she does," she sighs, shaking her head, and turning her attention to her daughter, "Lily... you know they can't make it move. Things made of snow can't move. We've talked about this before. Remember the helicopter?"

"That's different. Helicopters have to fly. My carousel doesn't have to fly. It only has to go around. And I want it to go around. I want to ride on it."

"Me too!" Alice squeals. "Make it go around, Edward!"

Edward narrows his eyes at his sister with an exasperated sigh. "You're not helping, Alice."

"I know," she laughs. "But it's so much fun watching you squirm, I couldn't help myself."

Esme wraps an arm around her youngest daughter's shoulder. "Okay, troublemaker, since you can't help yourself, you can help me in the kitchen."

"But I'm having fun out here, and I'm assistant to the _queen_."

"You _were_. Now you're assistant to me." She smiles sweetly and turns to Lily, "That's a beautiful carousel, Lily. You're a very lucky little girl. And I hope you don't mind, but I need to borrow Alice for a while."

"Thank you. Is she in trouble? I didn't know grown ups could get in trouble, except the bad kind at Grandpa's jail."

"No, she's not in trouble, I just need a helper."

"Okay. Alice is the best assistant. She'll do a good job helping you."

Esme winks and Edward laughs at a pouting Alice being drug away and then looks at Lily, whose eyes are back glued hopefully on him. He gives her an apologetic smile and twirls the tassels on her hat as he crouches down in front of her.

"I promise I would if I could, but I can't make it move, sweetheart."

"But you can do anything," she replies confidently, not giving up.

"Oh, Lily... "

He beams with pride at her thoughts about him and would give anything not to disappoint her, but he knows it can't be helped this time. And that there's no way out of this but to try to make her understand.

"I'm very honored that you think that, and I try my best when things are possible, but some things just aren't. I'm afraid making your snow carousel move is one of those things that isn't."

A frown forms on her mouth instantly, but just as quickly disappears. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm sorry."

She looks at her carousel for a moment and purses her lips while she thinks. Then she smiles. "That's okay. If _you _can't do it, then it really must not be possible. But thank you for helping make it for me."

"You're very welcome, Lily."

"It's my second favorite one."

"Wow, that's very special."

"Want to know what my first favorite is?"

"I would love to know, if you want to tell me."

"It's the one just from you."

"Well, thank you. I'm glad you like it so much. Is it your first favorite because it moves?"

"No."

"Because it plays music?"

"No, that's not why either."

"Hmmm... "

"Do you want to guess again?"

He looks up at Bella, who's watching their exchange with glistening eyes. Eyes that melt his heart, just like the big blue ones that wait for his next guess. The guess that isn't, because he's sure he knows the answer this time.

"Is it because it's from me?"

"Yes. That's why. You're getting much better at guessing, Edward."

**…**

**CFoW**

**...**

"Are you okay?" Esme asks from beside a mesmerized Bella, who stands at the window listening to her little girl laugh.

A sound she hasn't heard in so long...

Not just laughter...

Laughter so pure... so raw... and so beautiful, that it takes her breath away and sends tears flooding over her cheeks.

Edward's father Carlisle appears on her other side, wrapping a jacket around her shoulders, and the scent she has come to know as purely Edward now enveloping her snaps her out of her trance.

"Oh... I'm sorry... it's freezing and I have the window open... "

Carlisle gently stills her as she reaches up to close it. "It's a beautiful sound, Bella... the sound of your child's laughter. When it rises up from deep in their belly... when it bursts from them unburdened and permeates everyone and everything around them...

"Don't ever be sorry for wanting to hear it. Listen. Listen as long as you can. Listen until it stops, and pray that it never does."

"Never _again_," Bella whispers, her prayer already sent.

And maybe not the only one, as Edward's laughter joins Lily's in a chorus of joyful noise, and it is now _three _pairs of eyes that overflow at the sound.

The sound that gets louder as Rosalie and her husband Emmett join the song, two people that have shared their unspeakable pain, and endured their own, with loss after loss of children unborn.

The sound that explodes, as the three overjoyed pairs of eyes at the window can no longer contain theirs.

Laughter fills the once-quiet house, the air outside of it, and reaches faraway ears, as Charlie and Alice come from their own quiet conversation somewhere in the house to be a part of this Christmas wish come true for all of them.

They join them at the open window, watch the precious scene beyond it, the four rosy-cheeked laughers that still play in the snow, and they are instantly infected with their joy.

Joy that fills these two families' broken and aching hearts, because one selfless and beautiful child made a wish.

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

Edward Cullen's house is quiet again. The laughter has settled in for the night. It's not gone, just asleep, as Lily is in front of the fire, surrounded by a smitten Rosalie and Emmett, to whom she was reading a story before exhaustion overtook her and she drifted off.

Rosalie watches her sleeping face.

Emmett watches his wife.

Bella watches them all, with Edward's arms around her and his chin rested on the top of her head.

She hears his heart beat, the only sound in the room besides Carlisle, Esme, and Alice's low chatter a few feet away.

Charlie left an hour ago, and though his offer to take them home was declined, he left with a smile on his face.

Charles Swan was secure for the first time since his son-in-law's death that his angels would be looked after.

And _loved_, he thought, by this family that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and claimed a special place in their lives.

And by a man who he can find no fault with. No hidden agenda.

A man who understands his daughter's pain, because he has suffered the same.

A man whose pain is lifting, just like hers.

A man that would give her and Lily anything he could.

He can already see it.

He looks at them the same way that he does...

With adoration.

With awe, and wonder, and hope.

And he left that man's house with just that knowledge coursing through his mind and heart.

And as he drove, he spoke to his son-n-law...

_Our girls are going to be okay, Colin. I know it's what you want. I hope you can see. And I hope you heard their beautiful laughter today. And that it made you smile. At least. Merry Christmas, my boy._

Bella doesn't know any of that, but she smiles as she thinks of her father. The knowing look she saw in his eyes when he said goodnight. The absence of worry. The trust as he left them here...

"I should have driven my own car," Bella whispers quietly against Edward's chest.

"Why is that?"

"Because we should go. I should get her home and in bed... and I feel bad that you have to go back out in the cold, where she kept you all day, to take us."

"Bella, I wouldn't trade today for anything. And I don't mind at all taking you home, but you don't have to go. You could stay here."

"Edward... I-"

"Don't misunderstand. This is a big house. There are many rooms, many beds... Alice is already staying... and she bought Lily those cute little pajamas... "

His voice trails off and they both laugh, because the cute little pajamas she gave her are identical to a pair she bought for herself, white with little yellow stars all over them, and now wears as she sits smiling at them from a chair across the room.

Bella looks again to Lily, who also wears hers, having changed when Alice did, so they could model the latest trend... _Wish Wear_...

"I don't know... "

"Okay. I don't want to push. I just didn't want to let you go yet."

Bella doesn't want that either. "I'm glad you don't."

"I'm glad you're glad. But... ?"

"No buts. Well, just one... but it's not for me. She won't sleep without a night light... if she woke up in the dark, and in a place she's not used to, even if I was there... "

"Alice has one here. I'm sure she'd give it up for Lily."

"It is _not _a night light," Alice insists, "It's an air freshener."

"With a night light," Edward chuckles.

Carlisle and Esme laugh, and Alice sticks her tongue out at all of them, before smiling at Bella. "And of course I would give it up for Lily. You should stay."

Bella extracts herself from Edward's arms, fidgeting anxiously. "Angela won't be back from Ben's family's for another day... I have to open up the shop in the morning... "

"And I have to be at the hospital," Edward says, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze. "Which means that I won't see you all day... Which is all the more reason that you should stay, so I can see you now."

"If only _I _had gotten pajamas... " she jokes nervously.

"If only _you _would stop looking for excuses..." Edward sighs.

"I'm not."

"Okay. Then I'll take you home."

His words are simple, but she hears the disappointment in them. And she thinks a little bit of hurt.

"I really don't have pajamas. It wasn't-"

"You could wear something of mine. And you could stay. If you wanted to."

And now she's sure she does. And she wants to take it away.

"Okay," she says, squeezing his hand this time, "then we'll stay. Because I want to. See you."

"I'm glad you do," he smiles.

"I'm glad you're glad," she smiles back, a tinge of pink touching her cheeks.

His smile gets wider and a voice reminds him they aren't alone.

"Carlisle, go start the car. Emmett, you too."

"Like he can have any fun with Alice here... " Emmett snickers, getting up from the floor.

Everyone laughs as Alice smacks him in the back of the head as he leans down to kiss the top of hers.

"My brother is a gentleman, unlike you," she snarks, as he puts her in a headlock.

"Alright, you two cut it out. You're going to wake Lily."

They relent at Rosalie's motherly scold, and smile apologetically at Bella, who's still struggling to regain her natural shade of pale after their exchange.

Edward sees her struggle and wants to rescue her from it. "Let's get her upstairs so all of the in and out doesn't wake her. Or the _children_."

She laughs and lets him pull her from the couch and to her sleeping-peacefully-on-the-floor angel, who he scoops gently into his arms without waking her. Her heart constricts at the sight of him cradling her little girl with a father's tenderness, and again as Rosalie stands and plants a soft kiss on her cheek and whispers "_Sweet dreams_."

She smiles at Rosalie, who she knows has taken to her daughter in a special way, and at Alice who quietly giggles "I'll get the _air freshener_," and runs up the stairs.

A moment and a long trek up the massive staircase later, she follows Edward into a room a few doors down the hall, where Alice is already inside turning down the large bed, and where a soft glow and a delicate tropical scent welcomes them into the space.

"Is this okay?" Edward asks Bella, before he lays Lily in the waiting bed.

"It's more than okay," she answers with a smile and watches him settle her head against the soft pillow.

She smiles again as they both reach to pull the covers over her, and she gestures for him to do the honors. Her heart clenches once more at the sweet way he tucks her in and places a featherlight kiss on her forehead and whispers goodnight.

Alice leaves the room, with a smile on her own face, and Edward starts to follow her out. Bella grabs his hand to stop him, and holds it as she leans down to give her daughter her own goodnight kiss.

"Merry Christmas, beautiful girl," she whispers to the sleeping child, and stares at her for a long moment before turning and walking quietly from the room hand in hand with Edward.

She looks up at warm green eyes once the door is most of the way closed. "And Merry Christmas to you, beautiful man."

Eyes that grow warmer as he gazes down into her twinkling brown ones. "Merry Christmas, Bella," he whispers, tilting her chin up with the hand that isn't held in hers. "And while you are certainly beautiful, I have a guess that my _telling _you that isn't exactly what you want from me right now... "

His words fade away as his lips fall softly against hers. Disappear from his mind as her mouth tells him how right he was.

He's dreamed of kissing her all day. Waited for the opportunity. A moment when no one was looking. _The _moment when he thought she dreamed of the same thing.

_This _moment...

When all of the others of this incredible day, that he feared were too good to be true, too perfect to be real, too happy to be his life...

When they explode with vivid clarity... filling his empty home, his missing-pieces heart, his arms - that are no longer empty...

Because this beautiful woman lets herself melt into them...

One more gift in a day filled with them...

The glorious gift that keeps giving its sweet surprise to him...

And the promises her mouth gives of endless more...

Of her...

And the laughter that he can't keep inside as she pulls breathlessly away and says in a small, sweet voice...

"You're getting much, _much _better at guessing, Edward."

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

Edward wakes happy. Bella and Lily are in his house. Sleeping just a few doors away.

Not sleeping...

He hears them. Their sweet, quiet voices. Their laughter.

They're in his house and they're happy too.

He jumps out of bed and rushes to the bathroom. He takes care of necessary business, washes his hands and face, and brushes his teeth, before rushing back out, not wasting a second on his hair - because it really wouldn't make much difference...

And because he's too anxious to see their smiling faces to care.

He knocks lightly on the wooden frame just outside of the door to the room where they slept.

It's Bella's voice that answers, "Come in."

And the sight that meets his eyes as he peeks his head in the door takes his breath away. And makes him laugh.

The breathlessness is caused by Bella, who sits up in the bed, wearing his clothes, and looking tousled and beyond beautiful, and the laugh is because a giggling Lily points to Alice, who lies on a makeshift bed on the floor beside them.

"Good morning," Bella says, smiling shyly.

"_Best_ morning," he smiles back. "Want me to toss the intruder?"

"No. I think she just missed her _air freshener_," she laughs.

"I did not," Alice declares, sitting up. "I just wanted to be at a slumber party, where boys aren't supposed to be allowed."

"Edward is allowed," Lily says, "It's a rule."

"Since when?" Alice asks.

"Since now, when I made it."

Edward gives her a wink. "I sure am glad you're on my side, Lily. And I like your rules."

"I like your messy hair."

"I like yours, too."

"Mommy doesn't wake up with messy hair. Mommy wakes up pretty."

"I see that. Your mommy looks beautiful. And so do you, even with messy hair."

"Thank you." She smiles, and looks from Edward to her getting-pink mother and a more devious smile breaks out on her face. "Mommy, you should go brush your teeth. I think Edward wants to kiss you good morning."

Edward chuckles and winks at Lily a second time. "And I think that you're the best guesser ever, Lily."

"It's not a guess, Edward. You just forgot how observant I am. But don't worry... just like guessing... you'll get better."

And once again...

Laughter fills this once-quiet house.

**xx**

**I'm going to go hold my breath now, but before I do, I'll tell you that there will be at least one more. I can't promise more than that.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Edward enters the bookstore and the smile he was already wearing at seeing the two beautiful faces that have changed his life spreads wider across his face. Because he sees another familiar sight.

Hiding his gifts behind his back, he approaches the table. "Well, what is this?"

"Edward!" Lily exclaims with a 'You're silly' glare, "You know what it is!"

"I know _what _it is, yes... it's hot chocolate, but I don't know _how much_. Or if I have enough money for a cup."

"You'd have enough money for all of the cups if they weren't free. You're rich!"

"Lily!" Bella rushes to her daughter's side with wide eyes. "That is not an appropriate thing to say."

Wide eyes that narrow as Edward laughs, having become quite accustomed to the little girl's observances.

"Mom, he's a _doctor_. Doctors are rich because people give them all of their money to fix stuff that's broken."

"Lily-" she starts again, but Edward comes to her rescue.

"We don't take all of their money. Sometimes we don't take any at all."

"You didn't take mine," Lily agrees with a smile, leaning her head against her mother's side. "But you fixed everything."

"I certainly tried my best," he beams back.

"You're the best doctor in the whole world. Would you like some hot chocolate now?"

"I would love some."

He watches as she carefully pours him a cup, and then his eyes follow her tiny hands to the tongs and canister of miniature heart-shaped marshmallows. "No wishes this time?" he asks, hopeful, and fairly certain that her answer will be more than a simple 'It's Valentine's Day'.

"No... these aren't cups full of wishes. They're cups full of wishes come true."

"I like those," he tells her, his heart melting.

"Me too," she says, looking up at her mother as her hand strokes her hair.

"And I like your red ribbon," he says, watching Bella's gentle movement with fascination.

"Thank you. It's red for Valentine's Day. My dress, too."

"Well, you are by far the prettiest little Valentine I've ever seen."

"Thank you." She blushes and turns her attention back to his cup. "How many wishes come true do you want?" she asks, readying her tongs but not looking at him.

He crouches down, bending his head until he meets her down-turned gaze, touched by her sudden shyness. "I want _three_."

She looks up at him with a smile that could light up a thousand worlds, calming his fear that one of his gifts for her may not have been the right choice.

"Three is my favorite number," she says, dropping three hearts into his steaming cup.

"Mine too," he agrees, flashing a love-filled glance at Bella, whose eyes are glistening with tears as she watches their exchange.

"Aren't you going to drink it?" Lily asks after a moment, because Edward still hasn't moved. And still hasn't taken his hands from behind his back.

"I am if you help me with something," he tells her.

"Help you with what?"

"My hands are full."

"I can't see them. What are they full with?"

He pulls them suddenly from their hiding place behind him in an answer to her question. In one hand is a bouquet of yellow sweetheart roses, and in the other two frilly, tissue-stuffed heart-covered gift bags.

"Are those for me and Mommy?" she asks excitedly.

"No, just for you. I was going to give them to you later, when I gave your mommy hers, but I heard you dumped me for another date."

"I would never do that," she says, shaking her head emphatically. "But Grandpa doesn't have a valentine... and you have Mommy, so I said I'd be his so he's not all alone."

"I think that's very sweet. And that your Grandpa is the luckiest man in the whole world to have you for a valentine."

"He's the _second _luckiest man in the whole world," she giggles, grabbing her mother's hand.

"I think it's a tie," he says, "And that my cup full of wishes come true is going to get cold if you don't take your presents so I can drink it."

She takes the bouquet of little yellow roses from him with her free hand and brings the blooms to her nose. "Yellow is my favorite color."

"I know," he says with a wink, "Sometimes I don't have to guess."

She sets the flowers gently on the table and walks around it, pulling her mother with her. When she's next to Edward, she asks, "You only need one hand to drink your hot chocolate, right?"

"Yes," he says with a nod.

"Good," she giggles, guiding her mother's hand from hers into his and taking the bags from his other. "Which one should I open first? The big one or the little one?"

"It's up to you," he says, taking a sip of the warm chocolate and squeezing Bella's hand.

She chooses the smaller of the two, pulling out the tissue and then a slim velvet box. Her eyes sparkle and she gasps with sweet delight as she opens it to find a silver bracelet nestled inside. She lifts it from its velvet bed and holds it in the air, mesmerized by the single charm that dangles from it, a red jewel heart.

"Mommy!" she exclaims excitedly, "It's a red diamond!"

"I see that," Bella says, touching the jewel and raising a brow at Edward.

"It's called a ruby," he says, pretending not to see the silent scold. "Do you like it?"

"Oh, yes!" she squeals. "I've never had a red diamond ruby before! It's the prettiest one in the whole world! Thank you!"

"You're welcome. I'm glad you like it."

"I don't like it, I love it! And it matches my fancy dress! Will you put it on me?"

"I would be honored to put it on you."

"Now, Lily," Bella says as her daughter holds out her wrist and Edward clasps the bracelet around it, "I know you like your present, and you can wear it today, but that's a very special bracelet, and you need to be very careful when you wear it."

"I know."

"It's not like the ones in your dress up box. It-"

"I _know_, Mommy. It's not to play with. It's real. And special. I'll be very careful."

"I just want you to understand, sweetheart."

"I do. Edward gave me his heart. And I won't ever break it."

"You _stole _my heart, Lily," he declares, kissing the child's cheek.

"I did not!" she giggles. "I don't steal! Stealing is bad!"

"Oh yes you did. I think I'm going to have to tell your grandpa to lock you up."

"Grandpa only locks me up in hugs!"

"That's because you stole his heart, too. And hugs are the punishment for little girls who do that."

"And grown ups," she says, wrapping her little arms around the one who stole hers. And her mother's...

And made her greatest wish come true.

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

"Thank you, Edward. This was the perfect Valentine's Day."

"So, does that mean I'm not in trouble?" he asks, blowing out the candles from their intimate dinner he prepared.

"That was a very expensive gift for a little girl."

"Perhaps... but she's not just any little girl. And she's far older than her years, but you know that already. Both of those things."

She nods helplessly, because she certainly does, and lets Edward lead her to his living room, their glasses of wine in one hand and hers in the other.

"Now, I know you said that this was the perfect Valentine's Day, and I'm flattered, but it's not over. You get comfortable and I'll be right back."

He slips her heels off of her feet with a smile and rushes from the couch and up the staircase, her eyes following him until she can't see him any longer.

She takes a sip of her wine, trying to calm the nervousness that's creeping up on her, but he's back just as quickly as he went, and the nervousness falls away the same.

"What are those?" she asks, sitting down her glass, eyeing the two beautifully wrapped gift boxes he returned with.

"_Your_ presents."

"But you already gave me presents. And made me a wonderful dinner... "

"Dinner, flowers, and candy don't count."

"They did to me."

"Well, I'm glad they did, and thank you, but you still have presents to open."

A warmth touches her skin, because though she already gave him his gift - a very rare and special book - she, too, has another gift she wants to give him. And as the warmth spreads, she can only hope it isn't written all over her face.

"Which one should I open first?" she asks, repeating Lily's words from earlier in the bookshop. "The big one or the little one?"

"I'd like you to open the little one first," he says, wondering at the flush on her cheeks, and feeling some nervousness of his own. Nervousness she sees.

"Okay," she says in a whoosh of breath, taking the small box from his hand.

She unties the elegant white bow, willing her fingers not to tremble, and sets it on the table in front of her, then tears off the red foil paper. When she pulls off the lid of the box, she finds a slim red velvet one inside.

She looks up at him before she opens it, and can't help but smile at the anticipation lighting his brilliant green eyes. "Are you going to be in trouble again?" she asks him with a playful raise of her brow.

"I hope not," he says, an innocent smile forming on his mouth.

An innocent smile that tells her he absolutely is, or would be, if everything he did didn't melt her heart.

She opens the box with held breath, but nothing could have prepared her for what she finds inside. On a delicate silver chain is an extraordinary solid diamond heart.

"Edward... "

"Lily isn't the only thief around here, Bella."

She touches her fingertip to the precious stone. "I'm glad she's not."

"I'm glad you're glad."

"But still, it's-"

"Nothing compared to what it will give you. My heart... if you accept it."

"Of course I'll accept it. Your heart... both of them."

"Can I put it on you?" he asks, too excited to wait for her to ask him to.

"Yes. I would very much like you to."

He takes the necklace from the box, holding it in position as Bella turns and lifts her hair, and then places a tender kiss on the back of her neck before clasping it around her.

He hears her sharp intake of breath at his touch, and sees the tiny hairs stand against her pale skin and it fills him with a fierce sense of longing. These past several weeks with Bella have brought him back to life in every way, and he's happier than he ever could have dreamed of being again, but resisting his building desire for her has been a painful struggle.

Their moments alone are few, and even when they are, they're never completely. There's always a little angel sleeping just a staircase away, or giggling at the top of it, to remind him of how careful he needs to be with this woman he wants to give everything to.

This woman he wants to love in every possible way.

This woman who once was by another, before it was cruelly ripped away from her.

This woman whose strength he admires, and whose fragility he cherishes.

He knows he's not alone...

Not in his feelings for her and not in his want to feel more...

He feels her struggle every time she tears herself away from his kiss.

Hears it in her breathless whimpers as she pushes him regretfully away...

And sees it in her eyes as she pulls him back for more before she pushes him out the door.

Her door that just a night ago he stood with his forehead rested against as she stood just the same way on the other side of it.

Struggles separate yet shared. Like now...

When he slowly drops his hands from her delicate neck.

When she lets her hair fall back around her shoulders like a curtain of silk.

Between them.

Like the curtain of respect he envelops her in as he turns her to face him.

And his heart, that beams brilliantly before him. And inside of as she looks down at it and then up at him with pride at being given such a gift.

"Thank you," she whispers quietly, "For wanting to give me something so precious."

"Thank you for accepting it," he whispers back, with a pride all his own.

She smiles, a slight tremble touching her lips, and then leans forward to brush them softly against his for just a moment. "You gave me no choice."

"I'm glad I didn't."

"I'm glad you're glad."

"I'm glad you're-"

"Me too."

"Here. I was going to say _here_."

"I know."

"I'm glad you do. I want you to."

"So am I. And do."

"And there's something else I want you to know, Bella... if... "

"If... ?"

"If it's okay for me to want you to. Know something else."

"Well, I think if there's something you want me to know, then it's okay for me to know it. And for you to want me to."

"You think that?"

"I do."

"I'm really glad you do, Bella."

She waits patiently for him to tell her what that something else is, but he's quiet, and simply picks up the unwrapped gift and puts it in her hands between them.

"Is this the something else?" she asks, her eyes bright with curiosity.

"Call it a choice," he answers, his own eyes heavy with hope.

And she sees that... has to tear hers away from it to focus on the gift in her hands. One she opens so slowly and carefully that he thinks he may burst before she's finished.

But then she is. And he's still in one piece, as she looks down at two. Two pieces of soft cotton, black with hundreds of pink and red hearts.

"Pajamas," she says with a smile. "Very sweet ones at that."

"Well, you don't have any... here... and I didn't want you to have that as an excuse to say no to my question."

"A question that's really just something you want me to know?"

"Something like that."

"Then tell me."

"Well, questions are supposed to be _asked_... "

"_Tell_ me, Edward."

"I want you to stay here with me, Bella. And that doesn't mean I'm asking you for something else... it just means I don't want this perfect day to end. Separate from you."

"The last time you asked me to stay here with you, we weren't alone."

"I know."

"But this time... "

"We are. I know. And I know that that might be-"

"Even more perfect."

"It might?"

"It _is_."

"Does that mean yes, Bella? You'll stay with me?"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"_Yes_, Edward. And these pajamas are a really sweet gift...and you're even sweeter for giving it to me... but the sweetest thing of all... is that you called it a choice... this gift... so, I'd like to make one. If that's okay?"

"Of course it is. And you staying here with me is what I wanted most. It really doesn't matter to me _where _that is, as long as it's here... "

"Edward?"

"Yes, Bella?"

"Shut up."

"Okay," he laughs. "I'm sorry, I'm just happy."

"Well, I'm glad that you're happy... but I think I could make you even happier."

"You do. Everyday."

"I'm glad I do, Edward... but this is _night_... and I know I don't always make you happy on those."

"Only because you make me leave you. And because sometimes you push really hard when you shove me out the door."

"I'll try to be more gentle next time."

"Thank you."

"But not this time if you don't shut up."

He slaps his hand over his mouth with a laugh, because he just might not be able to help himself if he doesn't.

But that's the last thing that Bella wants...

"No, Edward. I want you to listen, and not talk, just for a minute... but then I'm going to hope that that sweet mouth of yours isn't covered up."

He drops his hand quickly, and with a boyish grin on his face, and it's him who waits patiently now for this woman to make him happier than he already is, though he doesn't think it's possible.

Something that Bella sees in every possible way he could show her...

Except for one.

"Yes, I will stay here with you. But _with _you is where I want to be. And I love the _choice _you gave me... but I'd like to save it for another night, if that's okay? Because the only thing I want to wear on this one... is you. And your heart."

"_Me_? And my-"

"Yes. _You_. And yours. Unless you don't-"

He kisses her before she can say another word.

Because she wanted his mouth... that she called sweet...

And because he does... want...

Her. So much.

And to give her everything. Love her in every possible way...

Here. Where she wants to stay. And prove him wrong.

Show him that he _could _be happier. Show him that she wants to make him, and herself, if he'll only accept it.

A choice he doesn't have to make, because it was made for him the first time he looked into her eyes. Her beautiful brown eyes that he looks into now. Sees that precious fragility in, that replaces the strength she showed him moments ago.

"There's no rush," he tells her. "We have time."

"All night... " she agrees, a hint of pink settling over her cheeks.

"Much longer than that," he says, unable to not. "I hope."

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

"Mommy?"

"Hi, my beautiful girl. How are you? Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong, I just wanted to say goodnight."

"Well, I'm so happy you did. Did you have fun with Grandpa?"

"Yeah. We went to a fancy restaurant for dinner. And I ordered a hamburger. And I got mad because I wanted it to look like a heart and it didn't. And I think Grandpa got scared... but Rosalie and Emmett were at the restaurant, too, because it's Valentine's Day, and they were on a fancy date. And Rosalie was wearing a fancy red dress like me, and she drew a heart on my hamburger with ketchup and then I wasn't mad anymore and Grandpa wasn't scared. And after dinner we all went together to the ice cream shop for dessert and then me and Grandpa came home. And I put my pajamas on and me and Grandpa played games and I won all of them because Grandpa always cheats and lets me even though he says he doesn't. And now it's time for bed because Grandpa says he's old even though he's not very much. But it's okay because I'm tired even though I'm not old at all and Grandpa said I could call and say goodnight before I go to sleep."

"I love you, Lily."

"I love you too, Mommy."

"And I'm glad you had a good time."

"I'm glad you're glad," she says with a giggle, having heard the words her mother and Edward speak so often to each other many times in recent weeks.

"I'm glad you're _mine_," Bella giggles back at her observant daughter.

"Me too, Mommy. Sleepovers at Grandpa's are fun, but I miss you."

"I miss you too, sweetheart."

"Are you still on your alone date with Edward?"

"Yes, baby."

"Do you think I could tell him goodnight, too? And then you?"

"Of course you can. Edward, Lily wants to tell you something."

"She does? Hello?"

"Hi, Edward."

"Hi, Lily."

"I'm sorry I'm interrupting your alone date with Mommy, but I wanted to say goodnight before I go to sleep."

"You're not interrupting anything, sweetheart, and you have nothing to be sorry for. I feel very special because you wanted to tell me goodnight."

"You _are _very special."

"Thank you, Lily. You're very special, too."

"Thank you, Edward. And for my special bracelet. I was very careful with it, and Grandpa helped me take it off and put it in the box until tomorrow when I can wear it again."

"You are very welcome, sweetheart."

"Will I see you tomorrow?"

"If you want to."

"I do."

"And if it's okay with your mommy."

"It will be. She wants to, too."

"I hope so."

"You don't have to hope, I already know she does."

"I like the things you know, Lily."

"Me too. They're special things. Like the other present you gave me. Will you help me with it tomorrow?"

"I would love to."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow! Goodnight, Edward."

"Goodnight, Lily. Sweet dreams."

"Sweet dreams! I'm going to tell Mommy goodnight now and then you can finish your special alone date with her."

"Lily?"

"What?"

"My _not_-alone dates with her are special, too."

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

"You're an amazing mother, Bella."

"Thank you."

"And you've raised an amazing child."

"Thank you, Edward. So much."

"And you... well... you... are... "

"Ready for bed."

"Really, really AMAZING."

Bella laughs at Edward's boyish exuberance, willing that laughter to chase her nervousness away.

Nervousness that he feels as he takes her hand in his, and then picks up her pajamas in the other.

"No, Edward... I still don't want them, I just... "

"It's okay, Bella."

"It will be. I know that. I... "

Her unspoken words trail off behind them as he leads her up the long staircase. But return to her as he stops in front of a door that isn't his. The same door that she slept behind the last time she stayed here with him. And her daughter.

"No. Not here. _With_ you, Edward."

"With me? Okay. _With _me. With me is good. I like with me."

She laughs and he gives her hand a gentle squeeze and leads her with a beaming smile to his bedroom and turns on the light.

"The bathroom's just through there," he tells her, gesturing across the large room, before holding the pajamas out to her. "I'll change in here."

She takes the sweet-intended hearts from him and tosses them across the room where they land in a chair.

"I meant it, Edward. I really don't."

"I'd never push, Bella. I just want you close to me. While I have the chance... "

"I want that, too."

"I'm glad you do, but-"

"No buts. Glad is all I was hoping for. And I am... that you are."

He looks from her face to the chair and back again, greeted by that fragile smile that melts his heart.

And something else. The want he sees every night before he has to leave her with it. And take his own with him.

Want she tells him they don't have to suffer the ache of anymore as she reaches up with trembling fingers to pull his face down to hers.

Want that soars through him as those trembling fingers move to the buttons of his shirt while soft lips plead against his for sweet mercy.

As if he has any choice at all? As if he doesn't plead for the same with every awakened fiber of his being?

His own hands tremble as he slides down the zipper at Bella's back. Then still as her soft lips find the bared-by-her skin of his chest, with a kiss just over his heart.

When she looks up into his eyes, he knows she feels its pounding beat, her now-smiling mouth making it pound even harder.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" he asks her, as her dress falls to puddle at their feet.

"No... " she whispers breathlessly as his hands start to move over her skin, " ...but I know how beautiful _you _think I am. And that's more than I could ever be."

"You couldn't possibly know how much that is... " he tells her, lifting her into his arms, " ...but you will."

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

Bella hasn't woken in a man's arms since the morning before the night that her husband's were taken from her. Hasn't, and never dreamed she could or would.

Until this morning, when she is. And last night, when she couldn't deny any longer how much she needed to. Wanted to...

Wake in a man's arms.

This man...

Who showed her how beautiful he thought she was. In ways that flush her skin even now. Warm her insides. And melt her heart. Because he was right...

She didn't know how much...

But she does now. She couldn't possibly not.

As she remembers every moment he spent showing her. And feels his hand stroke her hair that lays in a mess of tangled proof across his chest.

"Good morning," she tells him, her voice a quiet whisper against his skin.

"_Best_ morning," he tells her, just like he did on that other. Proof of something else.

Something she couldn't agree more with, and aches to see the truth of in his eyes.

So she raises herself up so that she can see it...

Let it warm her cooled skin - cooled because she took it from his.

And fill her with a sense of peace she thought she'd never feel again.

A belonging.

As his heart dangles between them. Hers... because he gave it to her. Trusted her not to break it.

Knew how much she'd cherish it. Like she knew he would cherish her. Her whole. Her entire.

"It is... almost."

"You're right. There's something missing."

"There is."

"Well, _someone_."

"Yes. Someone." She tears her eyes away from his smiling face and glances at the clock beside the bed she doesn't really want to leave. "Who will be home in an hour."

"Then, lets get you there. So that I can come and knock on the door after she is. If-"

"You better."

"I will, Bella. You've given me no choice."

**xx**

**I never gave up... and I really hope you didn't. Or think I had. And I promise we'll be knocking on the door much sooner than we did this time. Much, _much_ sooner.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"Lily, honey, I don't think you're going to be able to find that piece-"

"Yes I am."

"I don't mean that you won't find it, sweetheart, just that it might be really hard right now. We just started... "

Lily's second gift from Edward lies before them. A puzzle of three horses. A family. A mother, a father, and a young foal.

The child has waited patiently for this day, when the three of them could work on it together, something that didn't happen that day they'd planned.

All because of a sniffle.

That seemed harmless with its first warning, but then knocked on the doors of this small town with an unrelenting vengeance.

Everyone was sick.

Edward could barely get away from the hospital...

But he did. He found the time. Made it. Every chance he could, to rush to the little girl's bedside.

He spent nights on her floor. Shared her stars. And wished on them to take her misery away.

Misery that killed him inside. Broke his heart. As a man, not a doctor. A man who couldn't love her more if she were his own daughter.

And just when his wishes were granted, and the fever released its grip on her, and the color returned to her cheeks, and the sparkle to her eyes...

And the worry left Bella's...

The heartbreak consumed him again. Because the woman he loved in so different but complete a way was struck down by this awful thing they thought had finally left them.

And, like with her daughter, he spent every moment at her side that he could. And ached for the moments he couldn't. The nights he couldn't spend on her floor. The nights that Alice did instead, in his place, because it just wasn't appropriate for him to.

Nights he spent miserable and alone, counting the hours until he could return to her side. A place he knew he'd always want to be.

Something he'd known already, but grew impatient about on those nights he couldn't be.

And something he vowed to himself he'd change as soon as he could. As soon as she was well.

Something he hasn't done yet, even though she is, but something he's ready for. After he keeps his promise to Lily, who's waited far too long for him to. And who is a very important and special part of his plan. And all of the ones that will come after, he hopes for the rest of his life.

Edward smiles at her determination, and the reason for it, as Bella continues to try to save her little girl from potential frustration. "Once all of the sides are put together-"

"Edward is doing that part, Mommy. You can help him while I find the piece."

Edward has indeed been working on the edges of the puzzle, but as soon as he had the first two fitted together, Lily began her search for the piece that would fit just inside of them. The piece that would connect them, and give them the first step of their path to the beautiful picture that waited to develop.

A picture he chose for exactly that reason.

"I think that's a perfect plan," Edward says, flashing Bella a wistful smile. "The sides are like arms, holding all of the little pieces inside."

"They are!" Lily agrees excitedly, "Like hugs!"

"Well, in that case," Bella says, finding the next edge and fitting it next to Edward's last, and squeezing her daughter until she explodes into a fit of giggles, "I definitely want to help with that part."

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

Lily resumed looking for her piece - after many more hugs, and a few tickles, which strew more than a few pieces all over the floor, leading to a game of pick up - and found it a mere five minutes later. The three gigglers then spent the next hour working on the puzzle, but after that period of intense concentration, the littlest giggler's eyelids are starting to droop.

"I think someone is getting sleepy," Bella says softly, tucking a stray curl behind Lily's ear. "What do you think about brushing your teeth and getting into your pajamas?"

"Okay, Mommy. Let me just put this piece in." She fits the piece she's just found into its rightful place and then jumps up. "Wait five minutes and then come up to tuck me in! _Both _of you!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Edward yells after her as she runs up the stairs.

And then he and Bella clean up, Bella putting the lid on the box and slipping it into the drawer of their coffee table, and Edward carrying the large board holding the work in progress carefully around the back of the couch and sliding it underneath, a place Lily had suggested it be kept for easy access until their masterpiece was finished.

"You said that you had to close the bookshop tomorrow night, right?" he asks her, disappointed and hopeful at the same time.

"Yeah, and thanks for bringing that up, because I need to call my dad and see if he can take Lily for a few hours so she's not cooped up there all night with me and stuck eating pizza in the back room for dinner."

"Actually, I was hoping you'd let me have that honor."

"You were?"

"Yes. Well, I _am_."

"Of course you can, Edward. If you want. She would love that."

"So would I."

"I could still get him on standby just in case?"

"No, I'd never need you to do that. Unless it would make you feel better to?"

"No... I just meant-"

"We'll be fine, I promise. I'll take good care of her."

"You don't have to tell me that, Edward. I'd never doubt it for a second."

"I'm glad you wouldn't."

"I'm glad you're glad."

"Of course I am. That you trust me with her."

"I'd trust you with her life."

He smiles and clears his throat at her declaration, because it's exactly what he hopes for in every way, and because that very important bit of confirmation of that hope has choked him up.

"And mine," she whispers, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "In case you didn't know that, either."

"Thank you, Bella," he says, his voice cracking with the simple-but-not words. And then he looks up, as the sound of tiny footsteps reaches his ears. "Are we late?" he asks the smiling owner of them.

"No. I can't get the cap open on the new toothpaste Mommy bought."

"Would you like me to come and help you open it?" he asks this time, to which she nods her silent answer before running away with her not. "If Mommy's done kissing you!"

He laughs and raises a questioning brow at Bella. "I'm done for now," she says, her own laughter delivering her answer.

"Then I'll see you upstairs," he tells her and rushes away to help her observant little damsel.

"Can I ask you a question?" he asks Lily, as he pops the top on the toothpaste and hands it back to her. "And you can think about it while you brush your teeth?"

"Sure," she says, carefully squirting the paste on her brush.

"Would you hang out with me tomorrow night while your mommy is at the bookshop? We'll visit her, of course, so she won't get lonely, but the rest of the night would just be you and me if you say yes."

She smiles and pops the pasted brush into her mouth and Edward steps out into the hall to give her privacy. And so that she can't see him hold his breath while he waits for her answer.

He thinks she'll say yes, like her mother did, but he doesn't want to assume. He hears Bella's light footsteps on the stairs, and lets out his breath in a whoosh, but he's pretty sure she'd already seen.

And is even more sure when she speaks. "You're adorable, just so you know."

"I'm glad you think so," he says with a proud boyish grin.

"I do," she says, instead of what he expects, and his heart flip flops in his chest at hearing such powerful words come so effortlessly from her mouth.

He's nowhere near recovered when Lily peeks her head around the bathroom door and giggles, and then says "Yes" in her most serious voice and grabs his hand, and her mother's in her other, and pulls them across the hall to her bedroom. "And I didn't need time to think about it. _Silly_."

"I'm glad you didn't," he tells her, reaching down with his free hand and tickling her side.

"I'm glad you're glad!" she squeals.

Once in her room, Edward takes his position next to the starmaker, and waits for the order to turn it on. His eyes fall to the photograph of Lily and her father as he does so. He's looked at it many times, like the many others around their house.

Pictures of love. And happiness. Everything their lives were filled with, just like his own had been.

They had everything... everything that mattered. He knows that.

That he isn't here because they chose for him to be.

They'd have never made that choice.

He's here because they didn't have one then.

"Ready, Edward!"

And because they do now.

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

Edward heads towards the stairs when he leaves Lily's room, but Bella grabs his hand. "Wait."

He lets her pull him into her bedroom - the one he's never been in other than when she was sick - and waits patiently for her to tell him why she has.

"I saw you looking at the picture... " she starts, but then struggles to say more.

"Just because I think it's beautiful," he tells her. "I'm sorry if it upset you. My looking at it."

"No... it didn't upset me... " Her words trail off again and she drops his hand, reaching with both of hers to the jewelry box on the top of the dresser she's brought him to stand in front of.

She closes her eyes for a moment and opens the lid slowly, looking up at him after she does. "I noticed when we were working on Lily's puzzle that you took your ring off... "

"Bella-"

"And then I realized that I couldn't remember the last time I saw it on your finger. And-"

He knows what she's about to do, and though his hopeful plans certainly hinge on her being ready to, he doesn't want his actions - or the ones he is planning - to pressure her to do anything. "You don't have to, Bella. Not now. Not-"

"I want to. I mean... I... "

"I understand, sweetheart. I promise I do."

"I've never taken them off."

"Of course you haven't."

"I never thought I... "

"I didn't either, Bella."

"But now... it seems wrong not to. And wrong that I didn't already. I should have... before... we... "

"Hey," he whispers softly, tilting her chin up gently, "You didn't do anything wrong. You couldn't possibly."

"But-"

"No. No buts. You couldn't. And you won't now, because whatever you do will be what your heart tells you to do. Tells you is right. And... " His own words trail off this time, because she's slipped her rings from her finger. And because the tears in her eyes have taken everything from him. His voice. His breath. And his plans.

It's too soon. For her. She's not where he is. And where she is is different.

He left his painful reminders. She stayed in hers. Lives surrounded by them everyday. The painful and the not.

She was happy in this house. The home she shared with her husband and daughter. And in this room...

The one he'd never been in until she couldn't leave it...

The one he shouldn't be in now.

Because it was theirs.

Hers and her husband's.

So he leaves it. Slips slowly and quietly away from her and out the door.

So that she can say goodbye. Or not if her heart tells her it's wrong to.

The anger chokes him as he walks down the stairs. Anger at himself. For all of the things he let his happiness blind him to.

Things that are harder for her.

He thought they were the same...

Two people who'd suffered unbearable loss and pain. Letting something else in. Something beautiful. And pure. As beautiful and pure as what they'd lost.

He knew there was one difference. The precious something she'd gotten to keep. The pure and beautiful little someone...

And that that made her careful. But he didn't consider the rest. Not the way he should have.

She didn't just open her heart to him. She opened the door. The one that belonged to someone else.

The moments they've spent in his house are new. Theirs and theirs alone. But the moments they've spent in this one...

The moments that are so much greater in number...

Are mixed with old. And memories of that life she lost. The love that enveloped her before she let his.

When he walks into his house he feels only her. When he opens his eyes in the morning it's her he sees... her face that lures him from his bed so that he can. Because hers is the only that's shared it with him. His empty house.

But it's _not _the same for her.

She comes home to that life she lost every day. Opens her eyes every morning and sees it around her. And doesn't.

Chooses each day to let him in. Share it with him. And trust him with it. And that priceless treasure she got to keep.

Her daughter who she told him she trusted him with. Something he knew before she did, but made his heart soar to hear it.

And hurts it now... because he wasn't being careful enough with either. Her trust or her little girl's life.

He thought his plans were special.

But now he just thinks they were wrong. Dangerous. And selfish. Something he never meant to be with those trusting angels upstairs.

Well, one...

Because the other is down now. Watching him fight with himself. Rip through his hair as he paces her floor.

Edward didn't hear Bella come down the stairs. Didn't see her...

But he sees her now. "I'm so sorry, Bella... so, so sorry... "

"Sorry? What could you possibly have to be sorry for?"

"So many things... "

"Edward... what happened upstairs... my tears... if they're what this is about... You didn't cause them. You couldn't. Unless you turned and walked out of here."

"But that's exactly why I'm sorry."

"You're leaving?" she asks, in so strangled a voice the words barely leave her lips.

They don't flow freely like her tears, that now stream down her cheeks in painful misunderstanding.

"Do I ever do that?" he asks, rushing to her and trying desperately to wipe them away. "Without you having to give me a helpful shove?"

"But you said-"

"It's not what I meant, sweetheart. It's not what I meant at all. God, Bella, please don't cry... "

"It's not?" she asks, trying, but unable to grant his request as her fearful tears continue to fall.

"Do you not understand my feelings for you at all?" he asks her, thinking it's unfathomable that she might not.

"I thought I did... "

"I thought you did, too. Even though I never actually told you... never actually said the words... "

"I've been waiting for you to."

"You have?"

"Yes. So I could say them back to you. Because I was too afraid to say them first. But... well, that just proves that I _can _do things wrong. And-"

"I love you, Bella."

"Edward, I wasn't trying to-"

"Shhh... " he whispers, touching a tear-soaked finger to her lips. "I do. I love you so much it makes my head spin. And sometimes makes me careless. And selfish. And that's why I'm sorry. Because I don't want to be that. Either of those things... I-"

She reaches up to pull his hand away, holding it in her own as she tells him how wrong he is. "You're the least selfish person I've ever known. And careless? Edward, you could never be that. You-"

"You don't know what I was going to do, Bella. Tomorrow with Lily... I was going to do such a careless thing... because I _was_ being selfish. And-"

"What thing?"

"I'll tell you... because I'll never be anything but honest with you... and because I want you to give me another chance at that trust you've given me... even though I almost blew it... "

"_What_, Edward?"

"Please don't hate me, Bella... "

"There's nothing you could tell me that could make me hate you. What were you going to do?"

"Ask her to marry me."

"What?"

"Well... not her... I mean, sort of her... but... "

"_Us_?"

"Yes."

"And you were going to do this tomorrow?"

"Yes. It's why I asked you if I could take her. I even have a ring... "

"You have a ring?"

"Yes. _Two_, actually."

"Two rings?"

"Of course. One for you and one for her. I was going to give her hers and ask her if I could give you yours... even though you hadn't-"

"Like permission?"

"Yes. Like a man would ask a father for if he wanted to marry his daughter... "

"But instead of asking my father, you were going to ask _my _daughter."

"Yes. Because I do understand the order of things here... even though I'm-"

"Edward?"

"Yes, Bella?" he asks, cringing with fear for what he almost did.

"That's the most adorable thing I've ever heard."

"What?"

"Ever."

"You're not mad?"

"No. But I will be if you don't do it."

"You will?"

His fear has been replaced with shock. And the tears that fall down her cheeks now are not the same ones she cried a few minutes ago.

"I will. Really mad."

"You don't think it was a careless plan?"

"You mean because she would have said yes? And then been excited? And vulnerable to disappointment if I didn't?"

"Well... yes."

"Do you not understand my feelings for you at all?" she asks, repeating his moments ago question.

"I thought I did... but you've never actually said-"

"I love you, Edward."

"Oh, Bella, I'm so glad you do... "

"I'm glad you're glad."

"I hope you mean that... because I'm _never _leaving."

"I do. And look forward to the day when you don't have to."

"I wish that day was today."

"Me, too."

"And now that I know you do, I really wish I hadn't have confessed my plan."

"I don't. Because it only made me love you more."

"Then I take my wish back."

"I hope that's all you want to take back."

"It is." He wraps his arms around her, pulling her close, and rests his forehead against hers. "And all I ever will, Bella."

**…**

**CFoW**

**... **

Edward has been staring at Bella's hand for several minutes. Her hand that rests in his. Fits perfectly in, as if it were made to be there.

Her movement caught his attention. Her thumb that kept absently running along the empty place on her finger. The one she emptied for him, before she even knew he wanted to fill it.

He's not jealous, or upset... he's caught himself making the same movement many times since he removed his wedding ring. Something that, like her, he never thought he would do. Something that was hard to do, even when he knew he should.

Bella wasn't with him that night. Wasn't an audience to his struggle. Not physically, anyway.

But she was in his heart. And on his mind. Telling him it was time. To let go of the pain and grab onto something else. Something he could hold on to. Something right in front of him, rather than behind.

Someone...

Who he _did _want to hold on to. Ached every time he had to let go of her. And saw each time he forced himself to that he wasn't the only one who did.

She wanted to be held. Trusted his arms and his hands to.

Trust he feels now as she seems to catch her own movement.

And hears... "I'm glad it won't stay empty for long. I don't like how it feels." Before the other thing he does. "That didn't sound right... " The thing that tells him she thinks she's done something wrong again. "I meant that I... I-"

"You don't have to explain, Bella."

"I want to."

"Okay," he acquiesces, because anything she ever wants, he'll give her.

"Colin loved me... in a way that I knew was extraordinary. Knew I was blessed everyday to feel. And when I lost him, I knew I'd never feel it again. Something that beautiful. That extraordinary. That special...

"I _knew_. And then I knew that I was wrong. Because out of nowhere came this man... who was so beautiful... and so extraordinary... and so special... in every way a person could imagine... and ways they couldn't possibly. Ways I'm amazed by every single day. And ways I know I haven't even seen yet...

"Ways I know he wants to show me. _You _want to show me... "

"I do, Bella. Forever."

"I _am _wrong sometimes, Edward. And sometimes that's hard... painful... but sometimes it's not. Sometimes being wrong is a wonderful thing. An extraordinary thing. And that's what I meant when I said I don't like how it feels...

"Because I like how _you _feel. _Your _beautiful. _Your _extraordinary. And because I want it. To feel it. The weight of it. You. Forever. That couldn't start soon enough for me, now that I know that I was wrong."

"I could run home and get them? The rings? And come running back with them... We could wake her up... so that I can BEG her to let me-"

Bella's laughter may very well wake the sleeping child, whose 'permission' he so desperately wants, though it's already been extraordinarily granted by this beautiful laughing creature before him.

"You will not need to beg her and you know it."

"I don't know... I just know that I would if I had to. And that I'll do it right now if you want me to."

"We can't always have what we want."

"_You_ can, Bella. If it's in my power to give it to you."

"I know you mean that, Edward, and that... well, that just proves that everything I said about you is true. But waking her up would be wrong. And not the good kind. So... "

"So, tomorrow."

"Yes."

"And then forever."

**…**

**CFoW**

**... **

"So, what are my girls up to tonight?"

Charlie Swan is having breakfast with the lights of his life this morning.

"Mommy has to work because Aunt Angela has to go somewhere important with Ben, and I have a date with Edward."

"Well, if I knew that, I would have asked you on a date first."

"Too late, Grandpa!"

He pouts at her obvious lack of disappointment in 'too late', but she only giggles. "That only works when I do it!"

"What if I stomp my feet?" he tries next.

"That only works when I do it, too," she answers with a devious smile. "But only with you and Aunt Angela. It doesn't work with Mommy, so I don't do it with her."

He pretends not to see Bella's _I told you so_ smirk, and asks his next question. Because he really wants to know. "What about with Edward?"

"No, I don't do it with him."

"Because it doesn't work?"

"No, because I don't have to."

"I see... " he says, and looks at his daughter, who isn't smirking at him anymore.

And who is covering her mouth with her hand to hide her laughter.

And who he doesn't think has ever looked happier...

Even though something is missing.

Telling him something else is not.

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

"I hope you're not upset that we didn't go to a restaurant for dinner?"

"I'm not upset. I like coming to your house."

"I'm glad you do, Lily."

"And I like tacos."

"I know. That's why we're making them."

"_You're_ making them."

"_You're_ helping me."

Edward is doing the cooking, and the chopping, but Lily is putting everything he chops into bowls. And their dinner is now ready, except for one last very important thing. "Do you want to shred the cheeses? Or would you like me to do it?"

"I've never shredded cheese before. Is it hard?"

"No, it's very easy. You just have to be careful of your fingers."

"Can I watch you do it first?"

"Absolutely."

He picks up the first chunk of cheese, and the grater, and centers it on the plate. Lily watches closely as he starts to move the cheese up and down, but becomes quickly perplexed, because the chunk of cheese in his hand is definitely getting smaller, but she doesn't see anything. "Where is it?"

"Where is what?" he asks, knowing full well what _she's _asking, but pretending not to.

"The cheese. Did it eat it?"

He lifts the grater from the plate, revealing the small mound it was hiding, and bringing an excited smile to her face.

"I want to try!"

"Okay," he says, moving to stand behind her where she kneels on the stool in front of the island, so she doesn't fall off.

She centers the grater back on the plate the way she saw him do, careful not to smash any of the cheese he made as she does, and reaches for the block in his hand.

"How about you try with a new one?" he suggests, not wanting to take a chance at her hurting herself.

"I want to do the one you did," she says, grabbing it before he can put it down.

"It's more dangerous when they're small, Lily. You could get hurt if your fingers get too close. The grater is very sharp. All of the little holes are like knives. The kind your mommy doesn't let you use."

She studies the holes, thinking they don't look like knives at all, but believes him anyway, because she knows Edward is very smart. "I'll be very careful. Just like with my bracelet."

She wore her special gift today, but asked him to help her take it off when they started making the tacos because she didn't want it to get dirty. He knows how careful she can be. "Okay," he relents, but doesn't take his eyes from her tiny hand as it starts to copy his earlier movement.

She is indeed careful, moving it very slowly, and stopping every few seconds to look up at him over her shoulder, because she hopes she's doing it right. And that he's not too scared.

His smile tells her that he's not, not _too _scared, at least, and makes her even more excited to see if she's done a good job with the task he's trusted her with.

"I did it!" she squeals as she lifts the grater from the plate, and sees the mountain of shreds, that she knows is much bigger than before.

"You did. You are a master cheese shredder, Miss Lily O'Brien."

"Thank you, you are, too. Can I do more?"

"Yes, but I'd like you to get a new one now please."

"Okay, Edward," she agrees easily, putting down her small piece and grabbing one of the other two chunks he's laid out on the counter. "It's your turn to be in charge of filling up the bowls now."

"Yes, ma'am," he says, and carefully transfers their cheese into the last empty bowl.

She begins shredding the second piece as soon as he lays the plate back in front of her, peeking at her achievement with pride before handing him the made-smaller-by-her chunk of cheese.

"Be careful," she tells him in a very serious voice, and then giggles as he reaches both arms around her to take his turn.

"Are we done?" she asks when he puts it down, and their second mountain has been revealed and swept into the bowl. "The bowl is almost full."

"Well, that depends on whether you want two kinds of cheese on your tacos or three."

"I want three," she says without hesitation, and picks up the third chunk. "But how will it fit?"

"We'll have to make room. Or we could get a bigger bowl... "

"I don't want a bigger bowl. I like the one we have."

"Me too," he says, and then reaches into the almost-full bowl and grabs a large pinch of cheese and pops it into his mouth.

"That's still not enough room," she says, and happily abandons the grater to help make more by doing the same.

A few minutes and many cheese-accompanied giggles later, their bowl is full again, with _three _kinds of cheese, and it's time to eat.

"I hope you still have room for tacos," Edward teases.

"I do!"

"Good. How many do you have room for?" he asks, ready to scoop the meat into shells.

"I don't know," she answers, because she really doesn't, "But I only want one first. You have to make them one at a time or the shells won't stay crispy. They'll get soggy like if you let your cereal sit in the milk too long."

"I never thought of that before," he says, scooping meat into one shell each. "We both learned something new today."

"I _saw _something new today," she tells him as he watches her build her first taco.

"What was it?" he asks, smiling as she puts cheese both under and on top of her tomatoes.

"I saw Mommy's finger empty. Like yours."

It's not what he was expecting to hear. He thought maybe she'd seen a new kind of bird outside, or something along those lines that she wanted to tell him about. Something simple...

But that's not what she said. And what she did say isn't at all. And he doesn't know what to say. "Um... "

"I've never seen Mommy's finger empty before."

"Are you upset that it's empty?" he asks her finally, because as much as he wants to follow through on his plans - the ones Bella knows about, and wants him to follow through on - if Lily is upset, then he just can't.

"No. I know why it's empty. Like yours." She doesn't look upset, or sound... "Don't let your taco get soggy, Edward."

He takes a bite, like she does, but really wants to know what she thinks the reason is. "Will you tell me why?" he asks, before he takes another.

"You already know," she answers, and takes her second, chewing it completely before she adds "To make room. Like you did."

"To make room?" he repeats, more out of shock than anything else.

"Three kinds of cheese is good, but three rings is too many. For girls. And two is too many for boys. So you and Mommy had to take your rings off to make room for new ones. Because you love each other. And when boys and girls love each other they give each other rings to wear so they always know and don't ever forget. And so they always have a hug. Because rings are like hugs for fingers."

"Did your mommy tell you that?"

"No. I told her. And now I told you."

"I'm glad you did."

"I'm glad you're glad." She smiles and takes another bite, thinking while she does. "Are you glad because I'm right?" she asks, once her mouth is empty again.

"Yes. I'm glad because you're right."

"Daddy can't give Mommy hugs anymore. Not the real kind. And Mommy needs real hugs. Everybody does. Because real hugs make you warm. And I'm not upset because I want Mommy to be warm forever. And she couldn't be until she made room."

"I want your mommy to be warm forever, too, Lily."

"You should hurry now, Edward. Because I think Mommy's cold with no hugs. Aren't you?"

He nods his head, because he can't find his voice at this moment.

But can't wait for it to come back to him...

And for them to finish their tacos.

The ones he's making now...

That won't have time to get soggy.

Or cold.

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

"Mommy isn't hungry. Grandpa went to the bookshop so she wouldn't be alone and they ate pizza."

"Well, maybe she can try our tacos tomorrow for lunch, if she doesn't have other plans."

"She heard you. And she doesn't. And wants to know how yours are going."

"Tell her I'll work on mine as soon as our dinner is put away."

Lily listens intently to her mother through the phone, because Bella could hear him that time, too, but her eyes are focused on Edward and the smile on his face.

The smile that gets wider as he watches her put down his phone. "Mommy said she had to hang up to help someone with something special. And that she heard you again, but I knew she did that time because you said it really loud. And she told me I should help you put our dinner away, so you could take care of your plans even sooner."

He laughs and grabs the plastic wrap from a drawer. "I'll tear, you cover. If you _want _to help."

"I do," she answers, taking the first piece he's already torn from the roll and covering their bowl of cheese. And then she asks a question, because he has the second piece ready before she's even done. "Are your plans important? You're in a hurry."

"Very," he says, in a very serious voice, though he looks happy, like he might laugh.

"Do I get to help with those, too?" she asks next, wanting to help with anything that would make Edward smile or laugh.

"You do if you want to."

"I do want to," she says, trying to cover the next bowl as fast as she can.

"Well, I hope you will, but that will be up to you."

"But I already said I do."

"But you don't know what my plans are."

"Can you tell me what they are?"

"I can. And I will, but I have to show you, too."

"Then let's hurry, because I want to see your very important plans!"

They do, and then wash their hands, and once Lily is wearing her special bracelet again, turn off the kitchen light and go into the living room clean empty hand in clean empty hand.

"Are the plans you have to show me in here?" Lily asks, too excited to be patient.

"They are," he says, excited too, and glad she is, but nervous.

She looks around the room, thinking maybe she'll see something new, but everything looks the same, she thinks.

Everything except for Edward, who is starting to look kind of scared. "You look like Grandpa does when he thinks I'm going to throw a tantrum."

"I do?"

"Yes. But you shouldn't, because I'd never do that with you. I even told him that when he came over for breakfast this morning while you were at work fixing people."

"Well, thank you, but I think I'm a different kind of scared than that."

"I don't want you to be any kind of scared. Did I do something bad?"

"No, of course you didn't. I don't think you ever could."

"Then why are you scared?"

"Because I don't know if you'll like my plans."

"You said that about your tacos, too. And I liked those a lot, just as much as Mommy's, so you should stop being scared now and show me your plans so I can like those, too."

"You're right. I should." He takes a deep breath, and lets it out, and opens the drawer of the coffee table, because he has one too, and because that's where Lily wanted to keep her puzzle in hers.

He pulls the two small boxes from inside and sets them on the top, his fingers trembling as he does.

"Are your plans presents?" Lily asks, because that's what they look like to her.

"Yes. For me," Edward answers, because that's exactly what they would be if she accepted them.

"Are you afraid to open them?" she asks this time, because she doesn't understand why he hasn't yet. Because she never wants to wait to open presents.

"Kind of," he admits.

"Who gave them to you?"

"Well... I want you and your mommy to. But only if you want to, and I'm not sure you will."

"I don't know what they are. But I would only want to give you a present that wasn't scary."

"They're not scary to me."

"You know what they are?"

"Yes."

"How do you know if you didn't open them?"

"Because I bought them."

"You bought presents for yourself?"

"Kind of. And for you. And your mommy."

"But there's only two. And you said they're for you. If there were presents for me and Mommy too there would be four."

"No, still only two."

She scrunches her brows, because she's sure that can't be right, but can't imagine Edward being wrong about anything.

"I know that sounds wrong," he tells her, because he knows she'd never tell him that he was, and picks up the larger of the boxes. "But it's really not. This is your mommy's present, that would be one for me if you say I can give it to her."

"It's up to me?" she asks, not understanding why it would be.

"Yes," he answers, "Because I will only give it to her if I have your permission."

"Grown ups never ask kids' permission."

"Not usually, but this is a special case, and I need yours."

"Will Mommy be scared of her present?" she asks before she gives it.

"No. I promise she won't."

"Then you have my permission. You can give it to her."

"You have to see what it is before you tell me I can."

"But I can't because you didn't open it."

He laughs at this, because of course she's right, and because the look on her face is priceless. He sees her effort to be patient, but there are presents involved, and beyond her years or not, she _is _just a little girl...

"I'd like you to open it," he tells her, though it's not the way he planned this. He'd planned to give her hers first, but he thinks this way is better now.

"But it's Mommy's."

"I know. But since I need your permission to give it to her, you have to see it... "

She still doesn't understand why he needs her permission, and why he didn't take it when she gave it to him the first time, and doesn't think it's right to open her mommy's present, but she doesn't argue anymore and unties the satin bow. Because the sooner she sees it, her mommy can have it, and she's sure that any present from Edward would make her mommy smile.

But when she opens the box, and then the softer one inside, she knows that smile isn't the only thing it will make her.

This present will make her mommy warm.

Forever.

Something she wants to make Edward now.

With the biggest hug she's ever given anyone, she thinks.

That she hopes he knows is permission.

**xx**

**I really wanted to wrap this up by Christmas, but it turns out I couldn't. The story, that is. So, you'll get one more chapter. ****And then forever. ;)**

**As for this chapter, it's for my Baby Bear. I hope you like it. I love you. **

**Merry Christmas!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Lily doesn't know that her mother knows about Edward's plan. She thinks it will be a surprise, just like it was to her.

A beautiful, sparkling surprise.

One that will make her warm. And happy. So happy that she cries, she thinks. Because she does sometimes when she is.

So, when she walks with Edward into the bookshop, she does it with her hand behind her back. Her left hand, because she knows that's the one that 'special' rings are worn on. And where she wears hers. And also where she holds something. Another **PERMIT**. That made Edward laugh when she wrote those letters across the top of the piece of paper she asked him for, even though he was already smiling. And that made his eyes fill with joyous tears when he read the ones she wrote under them. Because he had her permission. And so much more...

Something he couldn't not know when he sees Bella's smile light up her face the second she sees them. The man she wants to spend an eternity with. _Eight _eternities...

And her precious little girl, who she has no doubt wants the same for them. And had none even before she saw that she was hiding something.

Something that tells her it's her turn now to hide something. The something she knows because Edward hid nothing from her. Because he wanted to do everything right. For both of them.

So now, though her heart is thumping with anticipation... bursting with excitement... she does her best to conceal both, and greets her visitors as normally as she can. "Hi there! What are the two of you up to?"

"Nothing," Lily says much too fast, and without thinking about its being a lie. Which she does think about now that she's told it. "Um... I didn't mean to say that. Because we're visiting you, and that's something."

"So, nothing _bad _is what you meant?" Bella asks her with a smile.

"Yes. Definitely nothing bad," Lily agrees with a nod. "Because we're good."

"Oh, I already knew that," Bella tells her daughter, her smile getting wider and her excitement getting harder to hide.

Both of theirs, in fact.

And they're not alone, because it's getting harder for Edward, too. The ring in his pocket is burning a hole through it. Because Lily was right... it makes you warm.

Something he can't wait to be when he sees it on Bella's finger. Well... _warmer_.

Because, besides his burning pocket, he already is. Because he saw Lily's on hers.

Something he looks at again as he glances behind her.

Something he knows Bella saw him do as he looks back up at her beautifully excited face. Something she could never hide. And that he never wants her to try to do. And wants her to stop trying to do now.

"I _am _up to something, actually," he says, glancing quickly around the shop to see if they're alone.

"Something bad?" she asks, walking to the door and turning the sign to **CLOSED**, and then locking it, and them inside, telling him that they are.

"No," Lily answers for him before he can, but then covers her mouth, so she can't say anything else and spoil his surprise.

"What she said," he laughs, giving Lily a _It's okay_ wink.

"Something good?" Bella asks this time, knowing, without a doubt, that it is.

"I think so," Edward replies with a shy little boy smile.

And Lily, the little _girl _who is rarely ever shy, can't stop herself from correcting him. "Edward, you _know _it is!"

"So, _you _know what he's up to?" Bella asks her daughter, knowing that answer, too, but also unable to stop herself.

Lily doesn't answer her mother out loud, only smiles and nods her head, but Bella can see that her excitement is bursting inside of her.

And that Edward's is bursting inside of him, too, and in his pocket, she thinks, because he keeps reaching into it.

"Well, do _I _get to know?" Bella asks now, before _she _bursts.

"Yes, um... " Edward looks around the bookshop, the place Lily told him to make her mother warm, because it's the place he first did, looking for the perfect place to do it. But he's not sure where that is.

And Lily, being the observant child she is, sees his dilemma and comes to his rescue. Because she _is _sure. "Over there, Edward," she says, pointing - with her right hand - to the exact spot they stood in when she introduced them. "You, too, Mommy. You have to follow him."

Edward and Bella both follow their adorable order, both remembering, like Lily, the exact spot they stood in on that night that changed everything. And they both smile as they stand in it, and Lily comes to join them, looking up at Edward expectantly.

"Um... " he looks down at her helplessly, tugging his hand through his hair, that's messy, as usual, because in all of his planning of this moment, he never planned what he would say to her mother when he asked his very important question.

"Don't be nervous," she tells him, "You're good at everything."

"She's right," Bella adds, "You are."

And his heart swells. So big it takes over his face. "Well, what I'm up to... " he starts, before Lily corrects him again.

"You have to be _down_, Edward."

Bella covers her mouth to hide her laughter at her little girl's _guidance_, but she's gently scolded, too, for doing it. Because it was her left hand that covered it.

"You have to put your hand down, Mommy. Edward won't be able to reach it when he is."

Edward and Bella both smile again, though _smile _doesn't seem an adequate word to describe what they wear on their faces now, as they both follow their most recent instructions. Bella first, dropping her hand, and Edward second, dropping to one knee before her, making Bella's tremble.

He looks to Lily once he has, for her approval, and she wears _it _beautifully. Another permit, that didn't need to be delivered aloud this time. Or written, like the one she still holds clutched in her little hand behind her back.

The one that gives him courage now, to carry through with the rest of his plan. "Bella... the day I walked into this shop was one of the best days of my life. It hadn't started out that way... but coming here changed that. Because I met a little girl... a very special little girl... who had made a wish... for the person most special to her... and shared it with me... and let me make one of my own... "

"You made four, Edward," Lily corrects, interrupting him, but with the sweetest of intentions.

"Let me make _four_," he agrees with a chuckle. And then continues this unplanned part of his plan, "Which were for hers to come true. For me to be able to help make them... not knowing that hers were the same as mine, even though I never dared make them aloud... or think them, even... until I saw you. The person hers were for. And one of the two people that all of mine will be for... for the rest of my life... if you'll _be_. _She _already said yes," he says, as Lily takes her hand from behind her back, at the exact moment he pulls the waiting-to-warm-her ring from his pocket. "Will you marry me, Bella? And make all of my wishes come true? And let me make yours, if I can?"

Bella looks at the rings with tears in her eyes, the one on her little girl's finger, that is just a smaller version of the one waiting for hers, and her own. But she doesn't answer right away, not because she doesn't know what her answer is, but because Edward's hand isn't the only one holding something up before her.

Lily's is, too. And that something is just as precious. And she reads it first. Out loud, just like the answer she'll give after.

**PERMIT**

**Edward Cullen can marry my mommy. I'm Lily O'Brien and this is my permission. Because he made my biggest, most important wish come true. He unbroke her heart. Because he loves it with his.**

"I'm glad he does," Bella tells her daughter, wiping a tear from her cheek with the back of her hand, her _right_, that still holds the precious permit. "Because your permission is important."

"I'm glad you're glad," Lily says back to her. "But don't cry. And don't make Edward wait anymore. It will hurt his knee."

"I'm glad, too," Edward says, "But I'm okay, Lily. And I can wait, because your mommy might need time to think about it before she answers."

"She doesn't-I don't," the beautiful girls say at once, making him feel anything but pain. In his knee or anywhere else...

"I would be honored to marry you, Edward. And make your wishes come true. And let you make mine. _Ours_."

"Mommy, you have to say _Yes_. He's waiting for that part! It's not official until you say it!"

"It's not?" she laughs at her daughter's exuberant order, "Okay... well, thank goodness I have you to help me, Lily, or I'd do it all wrong! And... Yes! Edward. _Officially_."

Edward seems paralyzed with happiness at this, his smile so big and heavy that he can't move, Lily thinks, so she helps him, because he needs her to. "Put the ring on her finger, Edward! It's waiting! That part makes it official, too!"

He does what he's ordered, once again, with as much joy as a man could ever feel.

Joy that bubbles up and out and fills this special little bookshop...

And all three of the hearts inside of it...

Because of pages. And dreams.

And wishes, of course.

All come true.

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

"Let's go!"

"We're going home in just a minute, sweetheart. As soon as I grab my purse from the back."

"No, Mommy, we can't go home! We have to go to the store!"

"What store, Lily? We don't need anything from the store. We went shopping yesterday, did you forget?"

"Not at the fancy dress store! We have to go there! Now! And buy fancy dresses for the wedding! So it can be done being official!"

"Lily-"

"You have to wear a white one, and I want to wear a yellow one, and Edward has to wear a fancy suit, so he'll have to go to the fancy suit store for boys and Grandpa has to go with him, because he has to wear one too when he helps you walk... and then we have to go to the flower store! And then the cake store! And the ring store! And invite everyone to the party... Mommy, we can't go home for at least an hour!"

"Sweetheart-"

"Where are we going to live? Because after a wedding you live together. It's a rule. But we have a house and Edward has a house and that's too many because you're only supposed to live in one house not two and-"

"Lily?"

"What?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, Mommy."

"And do you know what else?"

"You love Edward. That's why you said yes and let him make you warm."

Bella doesn't know what the second part means, but she certainly understands the first. And that she isn't the only one who does... but "Lily, honey, I know you're excited, but we can't do all of those things tonight. All of those stores and shops are closed now, just like this one, and-"

"But we have to."

"No, sweetheart, there's time. Plenty of time, and-"

"No there's not. We _have _to do it now. And Grandpa will help us. He can tell all of the people to open the stores so we can go in and they will because he is the police boss and they have to do what he says or they will get locked up and they don't want to. And then we can have the wedding and a party outside because it's nighttime and the stars will be the pretty lights because you're supposed to have lots of pretty lights at the wedding party, that's a rule too, and then-"

"It's too cold outside, honey, everyone would freeze. Especially in fancy dresses."

"They can wear fancy coats with their fancy dresses. And we won't freeze because we have rings so it will be okay. Let's call Grandpa now."

"Grandpa can't tell the people to open all of the shops for us, Lily. That's not what his important job is for. His job is to make people feel safe, and happy to live here, not make them work late, which I think would make them very _unhappy_."

"I wouldn't be unhappy."

"I know, but-"

"Mommy, please! We have to call him!"

"We can call him and tell him we love him? That would make _him _happy. And tomorrow we can start making a list of all of the things you want for our special plans. We have time to make them, Lily. Lots of time. I promise."

"No we don't! We have to do it now! Edward will freeze if we don't!"

Edward has been silently - and with much amusement - watching their exchange until now, but it's time for him to speak up, because he understands what Bella doesn't. And what Lily is so sweetly worried about.

"I promise I'm not too cold, Lily. Sometimes seeing hugs makes you just as warm as getting them. And as long as I see yours and your mommy's, I'll be okay until I get mine. You never have to worry about me being too cold. Well, unless you take your permission back... "

"I'll never do that!"

"I hope not."

"I won't!"

"So, what do you say we get out of here? Because while we were busy being up to something good, your mommy was here working hard and I think she would like to go home."

"Are you coming home with us?"

"I'd like to... but no one has given me permission, so... "

"You have permission!" Bella and Lily say at once. Or yell, rather.

And now there's just one thing left to settle. For tonight, anyway. "Mommy, I'm going to ride home with Edward. So he can see my hug and won't be cold in his car. And we'll follow you, so he can see his other one. And we have to do it that way because we have two cars instead of one and I'm too little to drive."

"That sounds like a perfect plan," Bella says to her daughter, before looking up at the man who had the other. "A perfect, perfect plan."

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

"Well, that makes perfect sense," Bella tells Edward as she takes his hand in hers. "I should have known it meant something like that. But did you mean what you said to her? That you're not too cold?"

He watches her run her finger over the empty place on his and sighs. "Yes. I meant it. _Mostly_."

"Mostly, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Well... "

"Did you mean it when you told her we had plenty of time? And lots?"

"I did... but mostly I was just trying to dissuade her from _tonight_."

"I'm glad you mostly were, Bella."

"I'm glad you're glad, Edward."

"So, how long do I have to wait? To be warm?"

"How long do you want to wait? Or want not to?"

"Oh no... you're not putting that on me."

"Putting what on you?"

"Something that will surely get me in trouble, no matter what I say."

"Why would it get you in trouble?"

"Are you kidding me? Giving a woman a time limit on planning a wedding? I might as well just lay myself down on the guillotine... "

"Have you forgotten the anxious little girl upstairs?"

"No, but even though she is, I can only imagine the other things swirling around in that adorable head of hers. And how time consuming they could be to make happen."

"You mean like an ice sculpture of a carousel? That moves?"

"Yes. Or five of them."

"Well, I imagine it would only be _three_, but... I think she might surprise you."

"She does, Bella. Everyday."

"I love that she does, Edward. And that I can see the adoration in your face as you say it... but I really don't think she'll be too demanding. Certainly not if doing so will make it take longer to make you warm. And as for me... I don't need it to be some grandiose affair that will take an eternity to plan.

"I did that already. And so did you. And I don't need to do it again... wait to live a beautiful life because of beautiful things that don't matter nearly as much."

"I don't, either. And I would have married you tonight... just like Lily wanted... if I could have."

"So, simple, small, and soon?"

"Now _that_, Bella... is the perfect plan."

**…**

**CFoW**

**…**

Planning a wedding with three anxious and excited participants doesn't take long at all. And after three months, the day has finally arrived.

And those anxious and excited participants are already in place. The place where the wedding will take, and the place they'll live their joined lives.

Edward's house is where they chose to do that... both of those things...

The backyard is a wedding wonderland, with a pink and yellow flowered path, white chairs with big yellow bows, and a real, moving carousel, of course, the 'stars' of which each wear the same around their necks. And wait to be ridden in celebratory joy, by children of all ages.

And beyond where they wait, patient and still, there are white and yellow tents, adorned with a million twinkling star lights for the party after, which will go on until the real ones fill the sky. And on one of the tables inside will sit the cake... with its white buttercream frosting and fresh pink and yellow flowers, and topped with a horse drawn carriage with a bride, groom, and beautiful little fancy-yellow-dressed wisher all sitting inside.

And there will be champagne... for those who choose it... and many other things they might...

But also on a table will be the things that brought them here. To this perfect day.

There will be cups full of wishes. As many as anyone could want.

And it's time now. To go make this very special one come true.

Or will be, in a moment.

There's just one last thing to do first. Well... _three_.

Because Bella, Lily, and Edward sit with Lily's gift, the puzzle Edward gave her for Valentine's Day. Lily sits in her fancy yellow dress, a yellow ribbon in her hair, and Bella in her off white, and Edward in his fancy gray suit. Each of them hold a puzzle piece in their hands. The last three, that fit into the hole in the center, and will make it complete.

"Ladies first," Edward says, smiling at the two lovely ones before him.

"You, Mommy," Lily says after he does, which doesn't surprise Bella at all because she knows her daughter wants to put the last.

So she says "Okay," and happily puts her piece into place.

"Wish-come-true makers second," Lily orders now, looking at the man who made hers with more admiration than he's ever seen in her sweet face. And that's a lot...

And makes him as warm as he could ever be. Something he knows she wishes for him, as he puts his piece in with a proud hand. One that will be prouder in just moments, when he finally gets his hug.

Something Lily doesn't want him to wait for anymore, because three months is forever, and he's already waited that long. So she fits the last piece in, quickly but carefully, and smiles at their accomplishment.

Because they made a family out of pieces.

The three of them.

And now it's time to make another.

"Ready?" she asks, and picks up her special basket of flower petals. The white one with the yellow ribbon. And another family of three tucked inside.

Because in it are photographs... one of her daddy, and one of a woman and little girl. The three people who aren't here... because they're in another perfect place.

Together, like in her basket.

Making each other warm, she believes.

Because it's what she wished. And she knows that wishes come true.

When you wish them with all of your heart.

"Ready!"

**The End. And the beginning...**

**Thank you for sharing our wishes with us. **


End file.
